Fall of the Seedrians
by Eric Neo Matrix
Summary: The prequel to Dark Chaos. Before the Metarex Wars, the Seedrians were once a great civilization. This is their story.
1. Two Worlds

This is not a standered fanfiction, for Sonic and his friends do not appear. This tells my own retelling of the Metarex story, from its beginnings to the birth of the Metarex. Most of it was explained in Episode 74 of Sonic X, but this is the in-depth explanation of it. A story of betrayel, war, and tragedy in the name of love.

I simply thought the the story of Cosmo's species had lots of potential.

This is an idea I had after I reread "_Descent into Darkness_" by Thrippa. I thought "Since seeing a retelling of Gerald Robotnik's story sounded great, what about a retelling of the whole Metarex story?" This is the finished product.

I would like to thank Thrippa for inspiring me with his/her "_Descent into Darkness_" story. And kudos to you for creating such an engaging story. It was enjoyable to read it.

Anyway, on with the show! Several of the chapters will probably be a bit short comparted to my other stories.

There are some themes from my other stories, so in case you don't know, go and read them if you want. However, they will be introduced later, so you can still get the story without reading them.

All canon characters belong to Sega and Sonic Team, and all OCs belong to me.

---

**Fall of the Seedrians**

Chapter 1: Two Worlds

The purple Seedrian chief known as Luke walked into his throne room. The planet was very quiet today; there was no major news around the capital or nearly any other city. The throne room was richly decorated with several tassels showing the Seedrian coat-of-arms; a tropical flower crossed with an electro-spear. The flower represented peace; the spear respresented the fact that the Seedrians stood for peace, but were ready for war if confronted.

Luke's life had been a promising one; he was groomed from the age of 7 to be a leader and a warrior. This was during the Ishur Crisis, a time of great instability when a large band of rebels from the Ishur Province declared open war with the government. Luke, despite being so young, was able to effectively lead Seedrians loyal to the government (which were much more numerous than the rebel troops) and crush the rebels. Recently, there had been rumours that there still was a band of rebels hiding somewhere, but those were probably just rumours.

That was approximately 30 years ago. Ever since, there was peace. Among other notable events, the Seedrians were able to establish peaceful relations with the nearby temperate world of Thyferra, which was recently colonized by anthromorphic humanoids such as hedgehogs and foxes. Ever since, cooperation and trade with the Thyferran colonists have become commonplace. However, there was one major difference between the Seedrians and Thyferrans; the Thyferrans were known to be avowed pacifists, while the Seedrians were much more warlike.

Luke was an avowed scientist, and encouraged research and scientific endavears. As such, the Seedrian Republic expanded rapidly in its technology, bettering the lives of ordinary Seedrians and improving the stability of the Republic.

Peace and prosperity reigned. Nobody saw any need for change.

But little did they know that their species would soon be changed forever.

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, another Seedrian, a deep gray specimen known as Zhar, plotted in secret.

Zhar, not known to many, was the leader of the rebels during the Ishur Crisis. After he was defeated, he surrendered and slowly rose back to being a prominent and trusted member of the community.

But even then, Zhar would still have revenge for his defeat. And he still had not forgotten the humiliation.

Zhar strolled to the control room of his cavern lair. It was very cold, damp, and dark, with only the illumination of the supercomputers and some other power bulbs providing light. The back wall of the cavern was covered by a collection of large computer monitors, lists of data scrolling over the screens.

A new browser came up, this one with live camera feed. A cloaked figure against a red background appeared on the screen, his face shrouded in the thick black cloak. His cloak was emblazoned with the blood-red Satanic pentagram on the front. Zhar bowed deeply to this figure.

"Yes, what do you want now, Zhar?" The figure said.

"Holy One of the Demon Empire, you know what I seek," Zhar said. The cloaked figure raised one of his eyebrows, unkinownst to the gray Seedrian.

"Ehhh, no, actually, I don't know what you want. Odd to be called the Holy One from a non-Demon _infidel_, don't you think?" The figure asked with a chuckle.

"...I want revenge," Zhar said.

"Ah yes, for your losing bet against Luke. So, how exactly do you want me to get revenge?" The figure said.

"I want Luke and his family dead," Zhar said in an almost whispering voice. The figure appeared to ponder it.

"Unfortunately, that is something I cannot do," the figure replied.

"Please, I'll do _anything_!" Zhar begged.

"Well, I have other plans, Zhar. They involve Thyferra...and a certain young fox I have been keeping my eye on. However, if you give me something, I might cut you a little slack," the figure added.

"What do you mean?" Zhar asked.

"...Luke has something, something that I want. I will demand that he give it to me in my next tribute letter," the figure said, "If you can convince him to give it to you, it would be great doing more business with you."

Zhar grinned evilly. "...And it would be great doing business with you, too...Maledict."

In response, the figure threw back his hood, revealing his head. Maledict's head was like a black hedgehog's, with evil gray eyes. He was also wearing an elaborate twisting crown on his head, which also contained Maledict's prized gray Altus Emerald of Power.

Maledict was known to all as the Devil, or Satan, though he notoriously hated his Satan name for reasons unknown. And his Empire is so large and tyrannical that it and the Demons themselves have become synonymous with evil.

Zhar's grin faded from his face, and he backed down in fear in the face of the Devil.

"...Be aware, Zhar, that I will not tolerate insubordination. If you stray out of line, I will silence you. Permenantly. I have given you your orders," Maledict warned.

"Yes,_ Zir_. So, what exactly do you need from Chief Luke?" Zhar asked, adressing the Devil with his title _Zir_ (Demonish for "He who rules").

Maledict just smiled his trademark evil smile; this fellow would be too easy to take control of.


	2. Peaceful Beginnings

Chapter 2: Peaceful Beginnings

"LIMIT! TSALI! Time for dinner!" A sweet female voice came from the small house. Outside in the fields, two foxes, a small orange fox named Limit, and a deep brown fox named Tsali, were playing. The star that Thyferra orbited around was quite bright and provided plenty of light and heat.

"Coming, Mother!" Limit called.

"We'll be right there!" Tsali added.

Limit and Tsali were brother and sister. Tsali was the elder one at age 10, while Limit was the younger one at age 7, going on 8. Both of them loved each other more then almost anything else; no, not as in romance love, but the unbreakable love between siblings. Each of them thought the other was the best thing since sliced bread, in other words.

Both Tsali and Limit ran through the wide open field to their house. Though it was actually quite large by Thyferran standards, it was not very large compared to some Seedrian structures. It was a long and tall house studded with solar windows.

As they approached the door, the automatic mechanism activated, and it opened automatically for them. Each door was rigged with alarms in case a thief would try to come in. But fortunately, there was little need for those.

They were met with a sweet smile from a tall female kitsune inside the house baking something. Christine Z'Charon was the mother of the brother and sister duo, and she was a schoolteacher who eventually rose up to become moderately powerful, thanks to her husband's position. However, she was very modest, and held no title.

"Hello Mother!" Limit greeted like an adorable child. Christine picked her up and squeezed her tightly.

"I'm glad you both came in! Could you help Mommy and..." Christine said, but she was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it!" Tsali offered, and he remotely opened the door. Standing right there was a tall gray fox; the father, Tyler Z'Charon. Mr. Z'Charon was an arbiter-general of the Thyferran colonial government. But he was modest, and despite being confident, did not have huge pride in it. He was holding a large briefcase and was wearing a coat and tie.

"Daddy!" Tsali greeted happily, giving his father a great big hug.

"Hey there, my boy!" His father replied.

"Dear, you're home early," Christine also greeted.

"Yep. The Council ended early today. It was a bit unusual; we were talking about the possibility of a Demon invasion. But of course, that was not possible; Maledict made a treaty and would never attack us, and of course, the Seedrians will protect us. Bit odd, eh?" Tyler explained.

"Well, I got dinner all ready. Limit is setting out the table," Christine replied.

"I'm just gonna go change and I'll be right down," Tyler explained, and went upstairs to his room. Tsali walked over to his mom.

"Mother, what was Dad talking about?" Tsali asked.

"Oh nothing, dear. It's politics," Christine told her son.

"Politics?" The young kitsune inquired.

"Nevermind. You'll learn it when you are older," Christine said, and went to go get Limit.

Tsali stood there, inquiring in his head what the word "Politics" meant. It intrigued him, since it was what his father did. But he was interrupted from thought by the smell of food on the table, and he ran to go see what it was.

All the food had been placed, and Tsali's family had already sat down. The meal was a large tin of borscht, a mound of potatoes, a large salad, and a fat grilled suffley (an animal native to Thyferra and the Thyferran version of chicken).

"Oooh, looks good, especially the suffley," Tsali commented on the food, and sat down.

"Let's say grace, everyone," Tyler suggested, and everyone clasped their hands as they recited a common before-dinner prayer;

_Bless, O Altus, these gifts of our family_

_Of which we are about to recieve,_

_Through Thy bounty Altus our Lord,_

_Hallowed by Thy name, forever and ever,_

_Amen_

Everybody finished the prayer, and began to eat.

"Could you pass the borscht, please?" Tsali asked politely to his mother.

"Yes, young man," Christine replied to her son, and passed the large tin of soup over to her son. Borscht was a mainstay food of all Thyferran colonists. it consisted of soup mixed with veggies and pieces of suffley meat. Tsali drank it up in an instant.

"Umm...Could I have some more?" He asked.

"Let everybody else have some first, son," Tyler taught.

"And don't eat that fast, you'll get a stomachache, or you'll choke," Christine lectured slightly.

"You say that all the time, Mother," Limit said.

"Well, of course, darling. It's a lesson for every meal," Christine stated.

"I do have one question..." Tsali stated after a pause of silence and eating.

"Yes, what is it?" Tyler asked his son.

"...You told me about something called 'war' that doesn't happen here, and you spoke of it as something horrible; what is war, exactly?" Tsali asked. Both of the young fox's parents looked at each other apprehensively.

"Well, I guess you're old enough to understand," Tyler said, putting down his fork. "Let me explain; war is conflict and violence between two enemies who do not get along, like I told you. It is horribly terrifying, and innocent people get killed or mutiliated and lives are destroyed by it. Hundreds of years of dedicated work can be flushed down the drain in an instant. That is why I taught you to be a pascifist. War is terrible, and should never happen. I think that's all that needs to be explained. Do not forget about your grandfather, and what happened to him because of war."

Tsali and Limit grimaced; their grandfather had been a part of a group of volunteers sent to fight for the Seedrian government during the Ishur Crisis, a great war on Planet Seedrius about 30 years previous between the government and rebels. He had lost both of his legs in an artillery strike and had been shot twice in each lung. Ever since, he was a paraplegic and had to use a respirator to breathe.

"Okay, thanks for explaining that," Tsali said.

"No problem, lad," Tyler replied.

---

A few hours later, the sky was dark with night, and various lights were being put out across the neighbourhood. Tsali and Limit, who both shared a room, got into bed. Both Tyler and Christine came in to say good-night to their children.

"Good night, both of you kids," Tyler parted after kissing them both.

"Daddy and Mommy will be at work tommarrow, so just don't get into trouble, alright?" Christine also said goodnight to them and kissed them.

"Good night guys!" Tsali laid down. Limit had fallen asleep almost immediatly, but Tsali didn't. He didn't usually go to sleep until later.

But this time, there was another reason. Last night, he had nightmares of death, fire, and destruction at the hands of hideous creatures, and he saw his family being cut down by a robed figure.

He had no clue what they meant, but a part of him felt like he would see soon enough.

---

Lord Maledict sat stonily on his elaborately sci-fi black throne (fully equipped with mongo drinkholders and a laptop), which was swiveled backwards to the collection of large red moniters on the back wall; the Main Demon Command (MDC) computer.

The hedgehog-humanoid-reptile tribrid sat in deep foresight and deep battle meditation. He had recently been having disturbing predictions of the future; the only clues he had to their meaning were the predictions of a dark-blue two-tailed kitsune, a black two-tailed kitsune, a yellow-orange two-tailed kistune, and a young female Seedrian. He knew already whom one of them were; the young Seedrian was only named "Cosmo" but he had no idea who the foxes were, except for the black one, whom he knew as the future persona of the Thyferran colonist he was spying on; Tsali Z'Charon.

However, one of the most disturbing was one of his future most-recent ancestor, one who hadn't even been born yet; the so-called Sonic the Hedgehog. The Devil knew that the blue hedgehog would follow in _her_ footsteps and fight the Demon Empire like all of his ancestors, and against his own true "father".

Maledict had the gift of foresight; a little addition to his power, being the Devil, the Lord of Villians, the Evil of Evils (which actually is not true compared to others he had known). He had made titles, many names. To his people, Maledict's official name was "His Majesty Emperor Maledict, Greater Son of Heaven of the Empire and all Imperial Domains."

But he wanted to shift back to his plan.

If the Seedrians were not eliminated, the Devil ruminated, then they would rise up and rebel against the Demon Empire, just as Maledict foresaw they would eventually do if he attacked them. However, if they were exterminated, then there would be no workers for his next major scientific endeaver.

Maledict's scientific idea; the creation of the Ultimate Weapon.

That's the whole reason he had his eyes on this Tsali kid; Tsali was very deeply attuned to Chaos Energy, and would make the perfect specimen for testing.

However, through an ingenious strategy of betrayel, trickery, and battle, he very well could get the Seedrians to literally do ALL the work for him. Maledict actually did not want to really CAPTURE Tsali, but to knock him out and leave him there. Then, the Seedrians would find him and take him back... And then, Maledict's plan would slowly unfold.

He was interrupted by the door behind him opening, and as he swiveled his chair, a figure futtered in.

This figure was Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies, and carrying the title of Demon No. #2 in the Demon hierarchy. Along with being Honerary Chairman of the IRD (Intelligence and Reconassiance Department), he was also the head scientist of the DST (Demon Science Team), along with being First Lord of the Admiralty. Intelligence and cunning were his specialities, rather than fighting prowess, but unlike most stereotypical intelligent characters, he was not without a hefty tray of weapons, including his two gold-plated spike chakrams that he used as his premier weapons.

Beelzebub was a large wasp/fly hybrid with no legs; he was always levitating. His wings made the ol' annoying buzzing sound as they flapped. He was wearing a purple crown on his head, along with purple tassels on his body. The barbs covering his skin were grayish, and, as one of his attacks, could literally shoot out of his body like darts and regrow later.

"Master," the Lord of Flies stated.

"Hello there, chap," Maledict said in a humorously bad fake British accent. However, Beelzebub, always one not in the mood for comedy, didn't even titter. The only time he was every flamboyant was when he was raping capture female POWs with his stinger for his insatiable sexual desires. That was something all janitors feared more than anything; it was nearly impossible to clean up all the blood and organs and body fluid and radioactive acid off the floor and/or furniture afterwards.

"Spies from the IRD have made contact with the subject for your Ultimate Weapon project. Nobody even suspects they're there, as usual," he said.

"Ah yes. Where be Astorath?" Maledict asked.

"He is gathering the attack force, just like you ordered. He is finished, and awaiting your orders," Beelzebub replied.

"Good, for once, he isn't a retarded ass. Get it, _Ass_? Like, in _Ass_torath?" The Devil joked, but yet again, Beelzebub had a stone face. "Now, leave and do whatever you need to do. I need to get Astorath on the line." In reply, the Lord of Flies dilligently left the hallowed throne room.

The Devil swiveled his chair back to the MDC terminal. After checking that all of his com systems were go, he pitched in a call to Astorath.

"Yes, who is this? Another rascal?" A low voice pitched in.

"In fact, this happens to be the Emperor. Get me Astorath on the phone. Now," Maledict said in a humorously sarcastic voice.

"OMG, I'm so sorry, uhh, I'll patch through to him right now! He seems to be asleep right now,"

"Then wake him!" Maledict ordered.

A response instantly came, and live video feed from what appeared to be the bridge of a Demon warship. However, the predominant thesis was the looming figure standing at attention.

This other figure was Astorath, the Prince of Darkness. He held the card of Demon No. #3 in the Demon hierarchy, just one short of his archrival, Beelzebub. As well as being the Commander-in-Chief of the Demon Army, he was also the Lord of Hell Knights, the principal warrior caste of the Demon caste structure. He had a very low IQ, and was notable for his corruption even by Demon standards. Brute force and strength alone was his speciality, though he was smart enough to know how to think strategically in the thick of battle. Despite Astorath's stupidity and the fact the Maledict often held him in contempt in front of his other colleagues, the Devil actually had a soft spot for the Prince of Darkness.

Astorath was a very tall and extremely muscular humanoid, like an immensely tall and buff version of a primate Human. His skin was a deep red with black blotches, and he had large salivating teeth, just like his Hell Knight brethren. He had a bald, smooth head and piercing electric-yellow eyes. He also appeared very tired, probably from yet another night of wild drinking.

"Whaddya want now?" Astorath said in a very tired voice, though he tried his best to hide it.

"Astorath, the time has come, if you know what I mean," Maledict serenly said. Astorath smiled.

"Ahh yeah, I get it," Astorath stated.

"Prepare to commence Operation Ranch Hand. Ready your assault force, and take up blockade position above Planet Thyferra. Also, ready your chemical land weapons on your ships and landing craft; we're gonna need a LOT of those on hand to slaughter _all_ the Thyferran settlers. Make sure they don't detect your fleet; if you can, use some of those new cloaking devices on your ships, for stealth and suprise is crucial to this op. We attack at 1500 hours. But remember, do NOT kill Tsali; leave him there, and make sure he survives your Base Alpha-Zero strike," the Devil explained his orders.

"Whatevah ya say. Over and out," the Prince of Darkness replied, despite the fact that he didn't know why his Master wanted to leave the person he was looking for to be found by the Seedrians, and the comlink shut off.

'We must be descreet. The slightest attention from any foreigners, and Operation Ranch Hand is finished. It can't fail; it's too crucial to my awesome plans. But I can trust Astorath will handle it; well, hopefully,' the Devil thought.

Afterwards, peace treaties aside, Maledict knew he would sooner or later HAVE to invade Planet Seedrius. It was a place infested with infidels and other undesirables. That's why he had a new operation for dealing with them; Operation Weedwhacker, the extermination of the Seedrian rabble. And he would use the Prince of Darkness once again for the job, for Astorath's sheer brutality would easily prevail.

---

Astorath stepped back from the console and turned around. Astorath was currently on the bridge his Demon flagship, DSS _Indominatable_. It was 30 kilometers long (11 kilos longer than a Super Star Destroyer and 5 kilometers longer than standard flagships). It was superior over its other flagship brethren for the fact that it was modified by a superpowerful coaxial proton beam, capable of vaporizing groups of ships in space and (used in a ground attack role) whole cities and areas in an instant.

It was equipped with, in exact statistics; thirty 45-in hypervelocity plasma turrets, 15 plasma torpedo launchers (equipped with a supply of 500 torpedos), 345 .303dm antiaircraft defense weapons, and 252 multi-purpose 9-in turbolasers (used in close-combat engagements with other captial ships). The ship was protected by 5 layers of shields, more than the 4 layers on normal flagships, and it had over 50 meters of Demon alloy from bow to stern. The _Indominatable_ was invincible; that was no boast. It _really _was scientifically proven to be invincible.

The bridge, also resembling the bridge of a Star Destroyer, was smaller than most. A large pane of fiberglass window was at the very front, with the command ditch flanking a small bridge to the front command area. The biggest disadvantage of Demon ships was that their bridges were very obvious; all Demon bridges on captial ships were on large command towers near the rear, also like a Star Destroyer. To compensate, the shields around the command tower were much stronger than the rest.

Astorath's fleet for Operation Ranch Hand consisted of 5 heavy cruisers and 7 destroyers, with 2 battleships and _Indominatable _leading the way. The plan was quite simple in both planning and execution; several gunship groups would fly over the entire planet spraying chemical weapons like napalm and poison gas, killing everybody that wasn't saftely sheltered inside. Then, several brigades would land to finish the job quetly and dispose of any survivors, and to look for the one the Devil was seeking. Finally, after the fox the Devil wanted was safely left on the planet, Astorath would order a so-called "Base Alpha-Zero" orbital bombardment, to reduce the tranquil world of Thyferra to a desolate, bleak, lava-filled wasteland forever shrouded in enternal darkness. Maledict had named it Operation Ranch Hand because it was akin to a human cowboy rounding up his flock; the Demons were rounding up the Thyferrans just like that.

A Base Alpha-Zero was an operation where the ships in orbit would bombard a planet until its crust was reduced to molton and glass slag. It was a legendary example of Demon terror. To the Prince of Darkness, the amount of ships he got for the job was a bit overkill; indeed, the two battleships could quickly shatter the entire planet just like glass in short order on their own. But it didn't matter. After all, Thyferra was a big planet, and the more ships, the faster it would take.

"Prepare ships for attack positions. Do _not_ fire unless fired upon... Or until we are ordered to," Astorath ordered remotely to all ships in his small fleet. Each ship moved all around the plant, putting some space between each of them. The ships moved slowly, despite their massive engines.

Astorath was now waiting for the order to begin, waiting to initiate what his Master intended to do in his elaborate plan for domination.


	3. Suspicious Activity

Chapter 3: Suspicious Activity

Luke sat at his desk in his comfortable but not lavish office. His office was an oval-shape with cabinets and bookcases and moniters on the walls. His desk was simply a normal desk, made from pinewood straight from his planet.

Somebody opened the door; a Seedrian advisor, like a normal male specimen, but wearing an elaborate red coat.

"Mr. Chief, this is for you," the advisor said. He handed Luke a red envelope; it was stapled together with a latch resembling a Satanic pentacle on the back. It also had a stamp with a pentacle on it. On the front, it said "The Seedrian Chief". The purple Seedrian Chief instantly knew what this was for.

"Thank you," Luke thanked. The advisor bowed and left the office.

Luke opened up the small letter. It read;

---

_To: Luke, Seedrian Chief of Planet Seedrius_

_From: His Majesty the Emperor of Hell, Maledict, Greater Son of Heaven of all Imperial Domains_

_Date: 1658 hours, Year 4759, 13th Age (Demon Battle Calender)/0900 hours, 2977 (Seedrain National Calender)_

_-_

_To your government,_

_It has come to my attention that it has come the time to pay your annual protection tribute to the Empire, in per accordence with the Treaty of Larph (2973). __However, that's where this comes in. I do not want you to pay the normal fee of 15 million Demon kredits; I want something else._

_I have seen that you have a particularily rare and powerful Doma Emerald, that you keep as the royal family's hierloom. Surely, you know about the Doma Emeralds; 25 in all, exceptionally powerful artifacts that make up the Emeralds of Power._

_I kindly request that you give your Emerald to me. Failure to comply will result in immediate action._

_Kindly signed,_

_**Maledict, His Majesty the Emperor**_

_**First Lord of the Admiralty Beelzebub**_

_**Commander-in-Chief Astorath**_

-

**_For Great Justice!_**

-

Luke set the letter down; he was a bit scared at the last part. Indeed, the red Doma Emerald was his family's hierloom. Legend had it that if it ever fell into the wrong hands, the Seedrians race would be punished. It was only a legend, but it still struck a cord.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when yet another advisor walked in.

"Zhar has come to warn you about something," the Seedrian said.

"Send him in," Luke ordered. The advisor left, and a minute later, a gray Seedrian wearing traditional robes entered the office.

" Zhar, what is it you have come to tell me?" Luke inquired. He never really trusted Zhar at all.

"Sir, I know you saw the tribute letter. Surely, you've seen what he wants instead of 15 million _kredits_?" Zhar asked. The Seedrian Chief nodded.

"I have come here to advise, carefully, to oblige to Lord Maledict's orders and give him your Doma Emerald," Zhar proposed.

"That... is something I cannot do," Luke said.

"With all due respect, Sir, the Demons will whup our asses if we don't. We have managed to prosper only because we haven't irked Our Benefacters. None of us want that to suddenly end in bloodshed," Zhar pleaded.

"You are right, but I still connot. Have you ever heard the legend of the royal family's Doma Emerald? 'When the Emerald of Power is givith to forces of Evil, all shalt be lost'" Luke quoted.

"Well, all will be lost anyway if we don't. You're putting all your faith in that legend," Zhar replied.

"There must be another way. I will have to negotiate with the Demons before I give up anything belonging to my family," Luke said, writing a note, "Send this to Maledict, Zhar. I'm covening a two-party conference to settle this."

Zhar quivered slightly; what if the Devil found out he had failed to get Luke to give him the Doma Emerald? Who knew what the Devil did to those who defaulted on agreements?

"Yes, Sir," Zhar replied hesitently, and stolled out of the office.

---

Lord Maledict wrote down the plans for Operation Weedwhacker (which the Devil deliberately chose as a name because it was his own pun on the fact that the Seedrains were humanoid plants), though his first military op, Operation Ranch Hand, hadn't even started, though it would very soon.

Operation Weedwhacker was split into three sub-operations: Operation Thunderbolt, Operation Gardner, and Operation Forest Storm.

Operation Thunderbolt consisted of the landings on Planet Seedrius itself, in which 50 brigades from the localized 502nd Legion of _Joyous Exultation_ would land stealthily on over 75 points across the world. Operation Gardner was the quick subduing of all the major cities on the planet with a series of quick thrusts spearheaded by armoured divisions and air cover, along with the effective isolation of the Seedrian capital. Finally, Operation Forest Storm was the final assault on the Seedrian captial city, Greengade, where he would send in a force of strategic bombers to blow the shit out of the Seedrian rabble and finish the job with several platoons, moving across the entire city in triangle armour formations. Demons always realized the value of battlefield airpower to the fullest, something that the Seedrians lacked as far as the IRD had found out;

The plan would result in complete Demon control in approximately 1 standard year. He mostly expected it to take 1 year because he expected (and foresaw) very heavy resistence. However, he knew that no matter what happened, the Seedrians would fall before the Demons like dominoes; it just could take a little while.

However, there was one major part of his Ultimate Weapon plan that nobody, except for Maledict himself, knew that would take place at this point. But the Devil would get to that time when it came.

Throughout the trillenias of Demon history, Maledict proposed many Ultimate Weapons, some of which became a reality; there were such destructive machines as the Galaxy Crusher (a machine that could literally obliterate an entire galaxy by causing the black hole at the center of said galaxy to collapse and detonate), the World Harbingers (which devastated whole planets and used the captured resources for the Empire), and others. But those were old ideas, long discontinued after technical errors (though the Galaxy Crusher was still used occasionally).

The Devil envisioned that this Ultimate Weapon would more easily work as an unstoppable soldier, one that could collapse a civilization in days, one that could destroy a planet with their powers alone. And one that would be versatile enough to go where no soldier or superweapon could ever go.

Maledict finished scribbling notes on the paper, readying his plan for proposing. Of course, he knew that in about 2 hours, Operation Ranch Hand would start, and approximately 6 billion colonists would die.

"But so it is. Perhaps it should be so, for certain sub-animal infidels must be eradicated," Maledict thought hatefully. His ideas had inspired many famous villians; Adolf Hitler, Jim Crow, Nero, and others, even though those particular examples were primitive Humans.

Not like the Devil cared, for this happened all the time in various parts of the Empire; every time someone or something would stray out of line, a genocide of the traitors would occur. It was commonplace, especially among the Outer Territories of the Empire (in which the rebellious Milky Way Galaxy was included in), along with a testament to the fact that the Demons were traditionally and extremely xenophobic against foreign species. Of course, the Devil was no different, being rascist to other species, which were known and prejudiced as _Vufhobdbufighnuid _(Sub-animals).

His final touches were interrupted by a com line from the MDC activating; Maledict knew what it probably was for.

Sure enough, Astorath came on the line; "_Zir_, permission to commence operations?" The Prince of Darkness inquired.

"Permission granted. Commence Operation Ranch Hand now," the Devil ordered.

"Operation commencing in 3... 2... 1... It's a go. Operation has commenced," Astorath replied. In the background, Maledict coul hear the sounds of engines.

"Good luck, and good hunting," the Devil said, and the com link broke its connection.

Now, finally, his plan could start to unravel in earnest.

---

Astorath broke the link to his master, and oversaw the loading and takeoff of the Demon gunships. Demon gunships were sleek and painted with the traditional colours of black and red. They looked vaguely like an unusually coloured version of the primitive Mi-24 Hind gunships used by primitive Humans, except they had four weapon wings instead of two like all Human attack gunships. They had a large middle compartment for soldiers, which had doors that could close and seal when in space travel. They had four weapon "arms" on each side, each bristling with one plasma cannon, 15 small-yield plasma torpedoes, and 25 plasma-infused _Warhawk_-class surface-to-ground/surface-to-air missiles.

However, their armament could be easily changed for each mission; in the case of this operation, the plasma torpedoes were replaced by chemical weapon sprays designed to spray poison gas in the air and slowly kill anyone who was no safely protected. They were also reqeuipped with cloaking devices so they could turn nearly invisible - only a shimmer of their profile could be seen.

"_All pilots, get to your ships at once. All air crew, report to your stations immediately. That's an order. We begin take-offs now. That is all, and good hunting_," Astorath said over the annoncer's speaker.

'Time to kick some muthafucking pacifist ass,' the Prince of Darkness flamboyantly thought with a malacious smile, as large groups of gunships started to slowly take off and swarm from the Demon captial ships towards the planet.

---

On the Planet Thyferra, it was little known that events would very soon lead to the destruction of the planet. But Tsali, along with everybody else, figured otherwise.

The brown fox looked out over the vast fields. It was late afternoon, and some clouds were covering the sky. The air was perfect; not too hot, not too cold. Tsali had always been an outdoors person.

And yet, something didn't feel quite right.

Tsali's suspicions were confirmed when, out of the blue, the wind came up abnormally. He also heard an unusual sound - almost like engines - coming from the air. However, there was absolutely nothing in the air that could amke a sound; no planes, no nothing.

"What's going on here?" Tsali muttered, just before he noticed something else; in th distence, a fog-like mist swept over the ground very quickly, and a sound like something was being sprayed filled the air. The air also turned from fine to very very sweet and humid.

"Wait a second, there was no dusting scheduled today..." Tsali added.

The fox started to cough uncontrollibly as the mist swirled around him, for his stomach felt like it was on fire for reasons he had no clue. He was fine before; how did this happen now?

'I gotta get inside and tell Mother about this!' Tsali thought, and scrambled to the door, coughing and choking on his own saliva. The door opened automatically on Tsali, who scrambled in a quickly closed it. The young fox collapsed to the ground, panting and hyperventilating wildly.

"There you are! I'm so glad you're okay!" Christine came to the assistence of her son.

"W-What's happening?" Tsali asked, still panting.

"Thre's some kind of bad chemical in the air that's poisonous. Father is stuck at his workplace until it goes away. Everyone has to stay indoors," Limit, coming down the stairs, explained.

"But how did it get in the air in the first place?" Tsali asked.

"Nobody knows, dear," Christine replied. Tsali shrugged.

But little did the little kitsune know, that his life was about to go completely in a 180 degree direction.


	4. Betrayel

**Chapter 4: Betrayal**

Lord Maledict sat in his conference room with all of his various generals, along with other high-ranking politicians like Admiral Beelzebub. Not everyone was there, though, such as Iblis, who was away on a campaign.

He was reading the letter he had recently got from Luke, which was defiant to the _n_th degree. Luke refused to give the Doma Emerald and demanded that a two-party meeting be set up to negotiate the issue. Maledict sighed as he set down the letter. Apparently, Zhar failed to get the Doma Emerald as well.

"Retarded Seedrians... always messing everything up," The Devil grumbled.

"With all due respect, don't you think we should be more... diplomatic?" Beelzebub asked, the only response being a strange look from the Devil.

Seated next to Beelzebub was his protege, Mephistopheles (shortened as "Mephiles") the Dark, who said nothing to back up his mentor.

"Unfortunately, without Iblis with us, there is little I can do," another Demon officer, Kommander Glasya-Labolas 'Oranhei, who was usually nicknamed "Black Doom".

Doom's words was true; after all, the only ship Doom could command was his drastically modified personal cargo/transport carrier, the DSS _Black Komet._

"Anyway, back on-topic. It is time to reveal my newest military operation." The Devil took out a large notebook full of notes and a huge map that he laid on the vocanic-stone conference table.

"Let's begin the briefing," Maledict began, "The Seedrians have been an annoying rabble that's been snooping into our business and complicating our operations for far too long. Therefore, I have come up with a plan to rid the Universe of the weed scum once and for all."

The Devil took a remote and pressed a red button on it. The screen on the end wall activated, and lines of scrolling notes, along with a massive map, took it up.

"Gentlemen, I give you Operation Weedwhacker, the elimination of the Seedrian race. Here's how I have it planned so far. First of all, I planned it into three sub-operations; Operation Thunderbolt, Operation Gardner, and Operation Forest Storm. Thunderbolt will be the landings on the planet, Gardner will be the isolation of Greengade and the capture of the rest of the planet, and Forest Storm is the final battle for the capital."

The government members listened intently at Maledict's plan.

"... And, uh, yeah, that's pretty much all I have so far. Questions? Comments? Snide remarks?"

One Demon raised his hand. "Your plan sounds interesting, but I have a wonder; who is leading the Operation, and what troops will we use?" The Demon general asked.

"That's quite simple, dude. Komrade Astorath will be personally leading it, and we will use 70 brigades from the 502nd Legion, which is currently on assignment in the Milky Way. His, right now, is in fact personally leading Operation Ranch Hand, so he is very close to our planned battlefront," Maledict answered.

Another being held his hand up; this time, it was one of the only Human officers in the Demon Empire.

_Zir _Al Kahn, Chairman of 4Kids, was that human. He was dressed in a fine black robe over a coat and tie, with a blood-red version of the 4Kids logo on it. Not many others knew, but 4Kids was actually created by the Demons to torture political prisoners with its butchered animated shows, using a terrible threesome of fanatical cuts, cheesy diologue, and silly puns.

"Will I be able to dub it?" Kahn asked. Being semi-insane, not many things he said made sense.

"How in Altus's holy Name can you dub an _invasion_, you jackass?" Beelzebub growled.

"I was just joking, you retard. Anyway, I DO actually have a real question. Why do you want to wipe out the Seedrians?" Kahn asked. Despite what seemed as an invasion of privacy, Maledict actually thought it was the time to explain.

"I'm getting to that right now. But thanks for asking a REAL question," Maledict turned to the others. "Anyway, back to my idea. Through my plan, I will literally get the Seedrians to do everything for me."

"How? What are you going to trick the plants into doing, and what is the point of all this anyway?" Another high-ranking officer, Kommander Mammoth Mogul, asked, also smoking on a Demon-made pipe.

"... While it would take far too long for me to describe what I had in mind completely, I will summarize it as bluntly as possible. While all this stuff with the Seedrians has been going on, I have thought of a new scientific plan. I have termed it Project Tryphon, the creation of the Ultimate Weapon."

All the other Demons in the room just sighed. A couple of them, Beelzebub included, began chuckling.

"What?" Maledict asked.

"Seriously, you've made up so many 'Ultimate Weapons' that I'm suprised you can think up of even more," Black Doom replied, shaking his head.

"Is this because of your desire for an 'heir' that you've been babbling about constantly?" Mephiles commented.

Khan also butted in, "... Haven't you said that same thing for the past... I dunno, FIVE 'Ultimate Weapon' projects now?"

"This has nothing to do with that, komrade. This Ultimate Weapon will ensured my victory in the Eternal War, and wil ensure the defeat of the Angels."

"Oh... Okay then," Black Doom replied. He took out a pipe and smoked it, which he somehow was able to do despite not having a mouth.

The Devil sweatdropped. "This is different. I can feel that in my gut; this will be something unprecedented."

Beelzebub sighed for the nth time. "Fine. Let's say that whatever over-elaborate scheme you have in mind does work out. How long and how costly do you think this will be?"

"Well..." Satan trailed off, "Would you believe me if I told you that my plan for Project Tryphon involved the genocide of an entire race?"

The entire room instantly fell tomb-silent. The silence, however, was interrupted by a loud alarm from Maledict's personal communicator.

"Oh, look at the time; the negotiations are about to start. I apolagize, but I will continue with our discussion once the opening move of my plans has been completed. Beelzebub, Doom, Mephiles! The time has now come." Satan, along with the three Demons that he named, stood up.

All the Demon officers snapped to attention as the Devil and his chosen komrades left the chamber.

...

"Mr. Luke, we have trouble," a monitor status worker told Luke.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"We have lost all communication with Thyferra. Something beyond anything I've ever seen has been jamming it," the Seedrian said, "Take a look at this." With the press of a button, the normal routine came up, but then, an error browser came up.

'**ERROR**. No signal detected. 404 seeds could not be found. /4;78# Signal online." The message said, but then, it started scrolling downward with more messages, now in a bizarre type of symbol alphabet.

"What the hell...? Patch through to our orbital uplink station and see what they can do," Luke ordered.

The response quickly came. "There is nothing. We're being jammed by something, but we don't know what. All we're getting is a group of strange letters that, when translated, say 'Let the unbelievers perish,' or something like that."

"Unfortunately, I can't check this out right now. I have the negotiations with the Demons to go to on Space Station TRYPHON. See what you can do. That is all," Luke said.

He walked outside to a network of walkways high in the sky; various upper parts of the Palace. On one platform was a large ship; his vessal taking him to the negotiations.

"What are the Demons up to now...?" Luke muttered to himself as he boarded.

...

"We interrupte this program for a special news bulliten!" The newsperson said over the television that the entire Z'Charon family was gathered around.

"A toxic gas of some kind has been sprayed over massive areas of the planet. It is highly poisonous, and can kill within seconds if too much of it is inhaled. We advise all citizens to stay indoors until this crisis has been solved. We're going out in the field with Reporter John today. John?" The newsman said. The picture switched to another person, a bear, standing in an enclosed vehicle.

"Yes, we have VERY unusual circmstances here. Apparently, residents have described this gas as 'coming out of thin air'. They also reported seeing shimmering outlines of...Wait, wait, hold on! What is this?" The bear said as the camera tilted skyward. To the gasp of everyone on the scene, out of thin air, the shimmering cloaked outlines appeared clearly, revealing a full squadron of sleek black gunships flying in formation.

"It seems that the culprits have finall revealed themselves, and..." The reporter said, just as he was interrupted with wonder. The squadron split up; one of them turned around in a 180 direction, pointing straight at the covered vehicle.

None of the people could say anything, before the gunship launched two missiles, which streaked towards the vehicle, impacted, and turned the screen into a haze of static as the camera signal cut out. Amazingly, through the static, the camera still showed a pile of debris and part of a body, and it also showed the gunship flying away to rejoin its squadron.

Tsali and Limit simply stared in wonder and awe; Christine had her hands clasped to her mouth in horror.

"What is going on here, nobody knows. But all I can say is; Altus help us all," the reporter finished, before the screen totally shut off after a haze of static.

"Mother...What's going to happen to us?" Limit asked.

Her mother just stared at them sadly, as if she knew what was about to transpire soon.


	5. Twilight of Peace

**Chapter 5: Twilight of Peace**

Many miles above Planet Seedrius floated the massive space station known as the Space Station TRYPHON (Tryphon). Named after the Tryphon god of Seedrian legend, it was both Seedrius's primary labratory and its forward space obersver for observing the reaches of space. It was shaped like an upside-down bowl, but was solid on the inside, almost as if it was filled.

Tryphon was a space station equivelant to the Space Colony ARK over Earth, which was in the same galaxy. It was almost 2000 miles across and weighed 1.5 million lbs. It was equipped with thousands of turbocannons bristled across the surface. Though they would worked well against similarily armed enemies, they were no match for the Demons, whose plasma cannons were about 1500 times stronger than the lasers, which had primarily been installed to destroy personal starfighters.

And at this moment, Seedrian Chief Luke, his beautiful wife Hertia, and several of his friends and advisors were gathered to await the Demon dignitories.

"Dear, are you sure you can do this? The Demons don't negotiate," Hertia said worringly to her husband.

"Don't worry, I'm sure this will work," Luke replied to assert her. At that moment, a Seedrian valet came in.

"Sir, the Demon diplomats have arrived. I will go and welcome them," the valet said.

"Good. Treat them to some hospitality," Luke said. The Seedrian nodded and left the room.

'Time to see what you're up to, Satan,' Luke thought.

Maledict and his diplomats arrived in his absolutely _hawt_ (to use the Demonish term) personal shuttle, complete with massive stereos and (complying with a running gag in ships used by the Demon leadership) fully-sized mongo drinkholders. The falcon-like gray ship landed softly on the landing pad, where a group of Seedrians were waiting.

As a little exercise in flattery, the Devil had pulled up to the platform while blaring _Ridin'_ by Chamillionare at full blast on the ship radio, which made him look like a complete pimp. Even though the Devil and his friends thought it hilarious as a prank and laughed almost the entire time, the Seedrians thought it wasn't exactly funny in the least.

The Devil put on his hood to disguise his face and sent his subordinates out to negotiate. Maledict would simply sit tight and preside over the negotiations, and occasionally throw in his two cents in the proceedings.

The various Demons, who were led by Beelzebub, Black Doom, and Mephiles all proceeded out of the loading ramp of the shuttle. Beelzebub noticed the cool expressions on the Seedrians' faces; they obviously were not very welcome of the glorious Demons.

Suddenly, the hatch leading inside opened, and a group of Seedrians, including Luke and Hertia, filed out to greet the visitors. That's when Luke noticed something; Maledict was nowhere in the group.

"Where is His Majesty?" Luke asked, using the official term for Maledict to stay on the good side of the Demon diplomats.

"You are not worthy for the Holy One to talk to face to face. He will preside over the proceedings via video. Now, let's get on with this, shall we gentlemen?" Beelzebub said as he and his cohorts fluttered past Luke into the station. The Seedrians followed him through.

The Tryphon conference room was very large. It had a big circular table in the center, and on the upper walkway, several Seedrian guards were also standing resolute to protect the dignitories.

Luke, Hertia, and the Seedrians were already there when the Demons walked in. Mephiles and Doom were both carrying a large television that they set down on the wall and plugged in. It immediately turned on, showing a figure completely robed in black against a red background.

"Now then, because Lord Maledict is only presiding over this proceeding, I shall lead it," Beelzebub said with a confident and happy chuckle.

"Everybody!" The Lord of Flies said. All the Demons stood up, did some kind of salute, and yelled something.

"_Ty gbidrjb hxdguy jkndrgiouvy bfcuhe jnx'dd, iuehgrghnbtu figje dhfr'eyu argjriduyh fuydbgz ryebuiuwq hk'ipff_," Beelzebub did a short yet florid speech in Demonish, and then they all yelled out the same thing again and sat down.

"... What the hell was that for?" The pale Seedrian diplomat named Jave asked.

"That is a formal Demon way to start negotiation proceedures," Doom replied, understanding that it was foreign to the plant race.

"Huh. In that case..." The more tan-coloured Seedrian known as Ceres said.

"_Get on with it already, you diseased rhinoceros pizzle! And try not to screw up too badly_." The hooded figure, Maledict, on the screen said impatiently.

"Very well, Your Grace," Beelzebub replied.

...

The Z'Charon family all went up to the attic of their house. It was filled with light and very dusty. But in this time, it was absolutely neccesary.

"Under here!" Christine grabbed the two children and shoved them into in very narrow part of the attic, one where they both blended in.

"What is it Mom?" Tsali asked her mother, who was frantically scurrying about.

"Hide here, and don't make a sound! I have to go, but I will return. Find your uncle's house; he is preparing to escape. Get out of here with him, and go on! I will catch up later!" Christine commanded them

_CRASH!_

A loud bang sounded from the door, followed by the shouts of a male voice in an unknown language.

Christine, as if on cue, dived underneath an old bed, which was also partially covering Tsali's hiding spot.

Following more clamps of metal on the floor and stairs, the wooden frame of the door was completely shattered into pieces by a massive impact.

"_GO! GO! GO!_"

A bunch of figures wearing different colors of armour, led by a towering muscular figure with silver armor, poured into the room, with powerful assault weapons at the ready. Tsali and his sister knew that to even breathe was certain death in this situation.

The leader of the squad strolled slowly through the room, until noticing the bed. It was obvious that the commander had gotten suspicious.

All of a sudden, the humanoid fixed a short plasma sword to the barrel of his assault rifle, and strolled forward to the bed. Tsali and his sister came within inches of screaming out in terror, but obviously, they remained hidden.

With several strong jabs, the squad leader plunged the sword tip of his gun into the bed several times, tearing up the fabric and missing Christine by mere inches.

"**Wait! I'm coming out**!" Christine cried out, now on the edge. All the soldiers instantly leveled their weapons at the bed as the Z'Charon mother came out slowly.

The squad leader eyed her witha combination of smug aghast and annoyence. Saying something to one of his soldiers in his language, he strolled back out of the room.

One of the soldiers came up and immdiately grabbed Christine by the scruff of her neck, dragging her out of the room.

It was to be the last time Tsali and Limit would ever see her again.


	6. Horrifying Revelations

**Chapter 6: Horrifying Revelations**

Tsali and Limit both crawled out of their hiding place and stretched out their bodies from sitting it such a cramped position.

"Now what do we do Tsali? Without Mother..." Limit frantically said.

"We don't have time! Uncle John was repairing the prototype of his own spaceship. We have find him and escape on that spaceship before he leaves without us, or worse..." Tsali told her the plan.

All of a sudden, Limit hugged her older brother as tightly as she could. "Tsali... I'm scared..."

"I am too. But whatever the circumstances, I'll always protect you. Don't you forget that," Tsali replied, taking his sister by the hand. Her posture relaxed for the moment, and they ran down the stairs and out the door.

The crisp summer oxygen mixed with smoke and fumes hung in the air. The late-afternoon sky was blood-red, as if warning of an ominous conundrum.

However, the sight on the horizon was the most jaw dropping. Tsali and Limit lived not too far from the capital city of Thyferra, and they could always see the downtown on the horizon.

But now, there was no city. The city was replaced by a gigantic fountain of black smoke many kilometers high, blocking out the sun. As the smoke got higher and higher, giant red beams of light came from the sky, blasting the city to pieces, as the smoke kept growing like a weed, towering over even the heads of Tsali and Limit, miles away from the area.

Up in the sky, Tsali and Limit also spotted something else; a numerous amount of fat-bellied planes with multiple engines cruising towards the city. Cannon of all types pointed and jutted out of their metal "skin". The grass swayed and bent as waved after wave of them came over.

Looking back at incredible sight before him, Tsali now realized with great horror the true fate of his father, who still was in the city when the invaders attacked.

"Oh my God... No..." Tsali muttered to himself, tears starting to pour down his face.

"Tsali... What's happening?" Limit asked. She did not quite understand what was happening.

"We gotta get outta here now!!!" Tsali yelled, pulling Limit behind him as he took off running in the direction of their uncle's house.

_Dad... Why? Why did you have to die? Why did this have to happen?!_

---

Meanwhile, above Planet Seedrius, the observation technicians were furiously trying to figure out what was going on with their communications to Thyferra. All contact had been completely cut off for hours ever since an odd signal written in Demonish had been sent to them.

One of the Seedrians was a young male named Dusk. He was a grayish specimen, with beady blue eyes and a blue coat. He had been working on the station for 5 years now, and he had risen to be a respected and intelligent worker and technician. He currently was the head directer of the Tryphon main control room.

"What the hell is going on with our equipment?" Dusk muttered to himself as he checked all of his system specs.

That's when he spied the problem; a long stream of random leet gibberish, forming a powerful Demon virus, was totally interfering with all of the observation systems on the station.

"Guys! I found the problem! Its a virus. Putting in a counter-firewall now," Dusk announced. Using his tech skills, he brought up a very powerful firewall that eradicated the virus in only a few seconds.

The video image of Thyferra finally started to show, but it was not like was the planet once was. For some reason, the normally blue-green planet had a large seething red mass heaving on parts of the planet, moving across the landmasses and scorching the atmosphere.

"What is that? What's happening to the planet?" Another Seedrian technician spoke from the other side of the room.

"Pulling up radar," Dusk said. The second he activated a radar scan of the planet, a massive cloud of dots appeared everywhere on the planet, with 14 larger dots and 1 gigantic dot near the front.

"Holy shit, look at this!" One of the other Seedrians said, and put up a zoomed image of the planet on the main screen.

Sitting above the atmosphere was a force of Demon capital ships, led by a gigantic dagger-shaped monstrosity of a warship sitting in the middle. The bright-red pentacles painted on their hulls shined brightly this close to a light source.

From all the ships swarmed wave after wave of aircraft, which promptly split up and dived towards the planet like giant flocks of birds. Also, red motes of light collected all over their hulls, and they launched volley after volley of gigantic plasma lances that burned through the atmosphere as they made impact and choked the planet.

Nobody in the room even said a word, so great was their shock, as they realized what the Demons were really doing.

Behind the cover of diplomacy, the Demons were obliterating Thyferra without mercy.

"What should we do? Should we contact Chief Luke?" One of the Seedrians asked Dusk. He shrugged for a second, pondering the reaction.

Taking a small disk out of a slot, Dusk took a recording of the raw footage and placed it in his coat pocket.

"... I will go and show this to the Chief. I will let him know the true face of the Demons and their dastardly crimes."

---

A few minutes later, Dusk strolled through a cold-metal corridor towards the meeting room where the meeting was taking place.

Upon reaching the door, he hesitated at first, recoiling at the thought of what might happen. However, gathering up his guts, he pressed on.

The door opened with a shrill hiss as Dusk walked into the crowded room. His entrance was greeted with surprised faces from everyone.

"What is it? We are in the middle of something!" Luke asked.

"Your Majesty, I have come to all of you in the most urgent of matters." Dusk suddenly threw his arm to the side and pointed at the Demons.

"The Demons have betrayed us! They are using this meeting as a disguise for their true mission. They are destroying Thyferra as we speak!!"

Everybody gasped and looked around at each other, murmuring words of disbelief.

Mephiles stood up sharply in anger. "What kind of blasphemy is this?! This man is a warmonger!" He lied.

"Mr. Dusk, how do you know this?" Luke asked, almost frightened. Dusk took out a small disk and put it in a small reader, opening up a large screen.

"This is all the proof you need. This is a strand of radar and video images we took after we firewalled a Demon virus that they had uploaded into our systems," Dusk said, starting the tape.

On the screen, a giant radar came up, showing the area around Thyferra. And from it, a giant swarm of dots, led by several larger ones, appeared on the radar.

In a haze of static, the picture switched to the actual video feed images. The Demon capitol ships were spewing out wave after wave of aircraft towards the planet as they boiled the crust with their heavy plasma turrets. The scenes of devastation was almost too much for anyone to bear.

The gut-wrenching video finally stopped in a haze of static. A deathly quiet shrouded the meeting room, until Luke himself stood up.

"You... **What have you done?!?! What kind of country uses a meeting as a cover-up for an invasion of a world filled with innocent colonists who did no evil?!?!**" Luke yelled at them. Neither Mephiles nor Beelzebub nor Black Doom responded.

However, the picture image of Lord Maledict on their television screen simply laughed and threw back his hood, revealing his malevolent features as his gaze penetrated Luke's very soul.

"I think it is time that you learned your place, Chief Luke. You call us a country. We are MORE than a country. We are the Empire! We are simply showing our superiority to other nations. You see, some countries must be exterminated... For the good of all." Satan said.

"This is outrageous! This is a disgrace to you and your nation!" Jave yelled at Lord Maledict.

Tears started to form and cascade down Hertia's face as the woman sat down in disbelief. Luke was shocked, but furious even more.

"... Get out, all of you! NOW!!" Luke screamed at them in fury.

Beelzebub was about to take out one of his dual chakrams, but he was stopped by Lord Maledict's image.

"You heard him. We must depart," Maledict said with submission.

But then, he looked towards Luke with such bloodthirstiness that it scared the shit out of Luke and his companions.

**"Know this, infidel scum! Before this year passes, your species will be no more!!! One will soon come who will bring about your end, and you will never be able to stop him!!"**

With that chilling warning, the TV screen shut off. All three Demon leaders soon picked up the TV and filed out of the room, back to their shuttle.

As they left the station, Luke sat there, pondering Lord Maledict's parting words.

_What does he mean? Is he really telling the truth?_


	7. Beginning of the Fall

Well, here we go; the moments where it all began.

--

**Chapter 7: Beginning of the Fall**

Tsali and Limit both fled into the nearby forest. The sky was blood-red, and nothing could be heard above the _hiss_ of plasma energy fusing the dust into glass and carving out whole areas, revealing the fragile underground network of lava-filled caves.

Tsali knew by heart where his uncle's house was, along with the quickest way to get there on foot.

As they progressed through the widely-spaced trees, Tsali suddenly heard shouts coming from a nearby road. He pulled Limit down, and the two of them quietly edged near a bush beside the road to take a look.

The only thing they saw on the road was a group of children surrounded by Demon soldiers of all varieties. They were being marched towards the wall of a nearby house.

Tsali immediately realized who they were; they were his entire school class, not to mention his best friends.

_Why did they gather up all of my classmates...? School isn't in session. How would they have known..._

One by one, the Demon soldiers lined all of the children up by the wall.

Suddenly, one of the Demons, wearing different armour than the others, took out a holo-scroll and spoke a couple words in a language that neither Tsali nor Limit understood at all.

"What are they doing...?" Limit whispered. Tsali shushed her and continued to watch.

The leading Demon nodded to one of his soldiers, who yelled out something. As if on cue, the other Demons raised their plasma weapons in unison.

Finally, with another sentence that Tsali couldn't make out, the soldiers fired on the hapless children.

The plasma bullets sizzled right through the children instantly, their dead forms collapsing over the grass right below them. Immediately, the soldiers marched away from the scene, with perfect discipline.

The sound of sizzling flesh could also be heard. But Tsali couldn't watch another second of it.

He quickly stood up and looked away. He was sickened by the sight. However, Limit seemed like she didn't understand what had just happened.

"Huh...?" Limit asked her older brother.

"... We have to keep going. Quickly." Tsali said, grabbing Limit and pulling her along. He just wanted to get the image of his friends being murdered in front of him out of his mind.

There would be time to grieve for them, later. But Tsali knew that he couldn't mourn for them now.

--

It had several hours since the tension-filled meeting between the Seedrian Royal Family and the Demon hierarchy, and Luke the Seedrian was once again back at his government building with his wife.

"How am I going to make this film footage public? I'm going to have to announce why, but before we do anything with the footage or against the Demons, we have to send a search party to Thyferra to find any survivors."

With that statement, Luke spoke into a built-in microphone near a panel next to a large viewscreen.

"Get me Admiral Dominick and Marshal Lily on the line."

With that, two images popped up on each half of the screen. Admiral Dominick was the leader of the small but modern Seedrian Space Force, while Marshal Lily was the leader of all Seedrian ground operations.

Dominick was a brown Seedrian wearing a highly-decorated military suit. Lily was wearing a crisp dress also studded with awards of every variety, matching her bright-green hair and orange eyes.

"Yes sir?" Admiral Dominick asked. Luke knew that both Dominick and Lily already had seen the film footage of the Demon attack on Thyferra.

"Admiral, I need you to form a small ship contingent with a team of investigators and go to Thyferra immediately. Do NOT engage any Demon forces. The Thyferrans are the top priority. Search for any survivors you can. Marshal Lily!"

"Yes?" Lily asked.

"I am ordering a partial mobilization. Get our front line troops ready and make sure that they are fit to fight. That is all." Luke ordered.

With that, the image screen shut off.

--

Tsali and Limit ran into the house of their uncle, Uncle John. However, upon their arrival, they quickly noticed that the door was wide open, as if someone had already entered.

The reason quickly became obvious.

"Uncle John?" Tsali called out as he walked through the house. However, silence was the only answer.

As the two foxes walked into the small garage, the first thing that could be heard was the unmistakeable sound of burning flesh. And then, smoke.

Lying on the ground, just feet from his workbench, was the dead body of John, a large hole burned in his skull. He was wearing his scientist garments, and his eye-glasses had been broken in two over his face.

Also next to him was a large capsule; his prototype spaceship. It was still incomplete, and would probably never be completed now.

"UNCLE!" Limit screamed, rushing over to his side. But both of them knew that he was already dead.

"Limit... It's too late now. We must get away." Tsali spoke to his younger sister.

"But... We don't have anywhere else to go!" Limit retorted.

Tsali knew she was right; they were doomed.

"Come with me!" Tsali once again grabed his sister and made a break for it.

...Too late. The second they ran out the door, they were surprised by a group of five Demon soldiers, all with their weapons raised.

"**_FREEZE BEEYATCHES_**!!" The leader screamed out, this time in a language Tsali could understand.

One of the Demons advanced foreward and took Limit and Tsali with its mighty armoured hands, dragging them a few feet and then letting go of them.

The two foxes now stood, frozen in the middle of a circle of guns and tall, buff Demon elite troops.

"Hold on for a moment.." The leader spoke in English, eying Tsali intently, "This is the one whom His Majesty ordered to be left alive."

"Really?" One of the soldiers asked. "If that's the case, what should we do with the girl?"

"Kill her. We have no use for her. And then, he have to severely wound Tsali, but not enough to kill him." The leader ordered, in clear English.

"**NO**!!" Limit screamed, jumping in front of her older brother. "I won't let you hurt him!!"

"Oh, what do we have here?" One of the soldiers smiled a wide, toothy grin and raised his weapon. "Goodbye, little girl."

And with that, the soldier pulled the trigger.

Everything happened so quickly that Tsali couldn't tell what had happened at first. Limit had doubled over from gunshot, slamming into the ground behind her older brother.

"Limit... No..."

But before he could say another word, he saw a soldier come up and prepare to slam his gun into Tsali's head.

Tsali was only able to hear a loud crack before he also fell, and darkness creeped over his vision as his skull was fractured.

And so began the events that would soon lead to the fall of the Seedrians... and would begin Maledict's plans.


	8. Aftermath

Sorry guys, but my computer was broken and I had to get it fixed. Anway, here's the next chapter.

--

**Chapter 8: Aftermath**

Lord Maledict sat back in his throne as he watched the carnage unfold over the planet of Thyferra, via a monitor system linked to his personal megacomputer.

He already knew the fate of Tsali Z'Charon; his sister Limit had been "tragically" killed and Tsali himself had been left for dead. Just as Satan had foreseen.

Suddenly, Astorath appeared on the screen, still in the bridge of the DSS _Indomitable_. The burning remnants of Planet Thyferra could be seen behind him.

"Yes, Astorath, what is it?" Maledict asked.

"My lord! Operation Ranch Hand was a complete and total success. Thyferra is no more. in addition, Tsali is also left alive, just as you ordered."Astorath spoke, stepping aside to let Maledict see the destruction and devastation.

"Very good. But you job isn't over yet," the Devil spoke. "I have just sent a declaration of war to Chieftain Luke. And now is the time to spring Part 2 of my plot; Operation Weedwhacker. We are now at war with the Seedrians, and it is time that their primitive species be eradicated."

"Oh yeah, that whole Seedrian extermination plan..." The Prince of Darkness said.

"Astorath, prepare the entire 502nd Legion for the immediate start of Operation Weedwhacker. The Seedrians have a huge and modern military, and you will need all the firepower we can spare. There is a tiny detachment of the Seedrian Space Force about to arrive over Thyferra. Before they can report back, ambush and destroy them. That way, they will know that we really mean business."

Astorath bowed, and the image feed out off.

Satan pulled out a small drawer from in his desk and pulled out a small portfolio; the official combat plans and statistics for Operation Weedwhacker, written by Lord Maledict himself.

Only 3 copies of it were made; Maledict was reading one of them, Astorath also had a copy, and the leader of the 502nd Legion, Kommander Varl, had a copy as well for reference.

Maledict began to look over his writing. It read;

-

_**Demon Operation 54178447877868447**_

_**Operation: Weedwhacker**_

_Even before the Angels are eliminated, we must be able to crush the Seedrian race in a rapid campaign (Operation Weedwhacker). The Army will have to employ all available formations to this end, with the reservation that occupied territories are to be protected against surprise attacks._

_The Demon Imperial Navy will have to make available for this planetary campaign supporting forces of such strength that the Army will be able to bring land operations to a speedy conclusion._

_However, the main efforts of the Navy are to be directed against the SSF (Seedrian Space Force). The Space Station TRYPHON is the main base of the SSF; with its capture or destruction, the SSF will lose its main base and will no long be capable of action._

_With the elimination of the SSF, the duty of the Navy will be to escort the units landing for the invasion against guerrilla space attacks._

_The preparations for the invasion will be made on the following basis._

_Operation Thunderbolt_

_The initial landings will be made by the entire 502nd Legion around the equator in 3 different landing areas. Ten divisions will immediately be sent to link up with each group. _

_The bulk of the Seedrian army stationed around the equator will be destroyed by deeply penetrating armoured spearheads of Rhino heavy tanks, Spiderbots, and Soul Ripper gunships for close air support (Note: All Spiderbots and Soul Rippers used in the conduct of operations MUST be protected at all times!!)._

_As soon as the landings are linked up and reunited, the Legion will split into three combat groups; Army Group North, Army Group Centre, and Army Group South._

_Seedrian resistance is likely to be very heavy, so casualties must be prepared for._

_Operation Gardener_

_With the success of Thunderbolt, the war will quickly intensify. Army Group North is tasked with advancing towards the Laurel Mountain Range in the northern hemisphere and destroying the Seedrian military fortress there._

_Army Group Centre is tasked with moving along the equator towards the capital city of Greengade and adopting a seige posture around the city. They will remain in seige position until the third part of the operation is ready to commence._

_Army Group South is tasked with taking the Ishur Province, a major Seedrian economic and industrial sector. This will fatally wound the Seedrians' defensive potential, along with stripping them of a huge resource centre and commercial link._

_The enemy will be energetically pursued, and a barrier shall be erected against Greengade to prevent its forces from retreating. The last surviving industrial areas can then, if necessary, be eliminated from orbit._

_Operation Forest Storm_

_The final phase of the operation at first involves all three Army Groups reuniting once more around Greengade (by this time, Greengade will be the Seedrians' last stronghold). The capture of this city represents a descisive political and economic success._

_As soon as possible, the entire legion will assault the city and slaughter the last rebels. Greengade is to be razed to the ground._

_With that, the Seedrians will be extinct, and their civilization will be no more. Victory will be ours._

_And then, the rest of my plan will play itself out._

_/end/_

--

_"We bring you a special holo-announcement! Ladies and gentlemen, Chieftain Luke, of the Seedrian Royal Family."_

The breaking news report blared across every news screen on Seedrius. The masses of Seedrians in the streets filed out of their stores and jobs solemnly to hear the rumours of a disaster on Thyferra.

In Central Square, in the heart of the capital city of Greengade, a throng of millions gathered to see this announcement.

The audience clapped as Luke the Seedrian stepped to a large podium with the royal crest emblazoned on it.

_"My fellow Seedrians... It is with great sadness that I announce that fate that has befallen our sister planet of Thyferra. For many years, we have stood side-by-side as family, but now, that is all over. _

_"Today, a day that will live in infamy and outrage, at approximately 0220 S.M. standard hours this morning, the Demon Empire, also known to us as as 'Our Benefactors', launched a massive simultaneous space-and-land invasion of Thyferra. Without any declaration of war or any ultimatum, they slaughtered the people of Thyferra without mercy."_

The footage of the Demon battle fleet orbiting and bombarding the planet started to play. As it ran, gasps could be sparodically heard throughout the audience.

_"The entire planet was devastated by the attack. We sent a group to find any survivors, and this is what they found."_

Now, another roll of footage started to play. A reporter with a microphone, guarded by several armoured soldiers, appeared in the screen.

Behind him were visions of hell. The sky was blood-red in flame and smoke. All grass and plants had been burned to ashes. A number of nearby buildings had also been vaporized. Geysers of flame spewed out of raptures in the crust of the planet, sending boiling lava and dust particles skyward.

_"As you can see, this is one of the most horrifying things I have ever witnessed!"_ The reporter shouted over the high winds, _"Nothing is left! I repeat, nothing is left! There is only death all over now."_

However, a cry of _"Wait a second..."_ came from the background, and the camera view shifted.

Now, the image shifted to the body of a young brown fox, breathing heavily, and barely alive. Behind the fox were the ashes of what was once a building.

Next to the fox, the bleached and blackened skeleton of another fox also lay, with a large hole in its skull.

_"It's a survivor! We found a survivor here!"_ The reported announced. Behind him, somebody said _"This kid's alive! Get him on the shuttle immediately!"_

_"I cannot believe it, ladies and gentlemen, we have actually found a survivor! Altus bless this child!"_ The screen focused on four soldiers carrying the young fox boy on a stretcher into their shuttle.

Finally, the image once again switched to Chief Luke.

_"After this footage was taken, the Demon Empire immediately declared war on us."_

_"I assure you now, my fellow Seedrians, that the ones responsible for this dastardly crimes will be punished. Now, the greatest and most powerful enemy in our history is preparing to attack. You know your duty; carry out the defense of this planet with honor, and shake your weapons in the tyrant's face! Remember what they did to Thyferra! Never forget the fate of your friends! LONG LIVE PLANET SEEDRIUS!!"_

With that final declaration of war, and a short period of wild applause, the newsreel finally shut off, and a massive uproar of cheers and cries came from the crowd.

--

Instantly, as if on cue, nearly every man of military age from the crowd ran through the streets in huge throngs to the recruitment centers all over the city. After seeing the crimes of the Demons, they didn't need anything else to convince them to fight against Demon tyranny.

On that single day alone, over 5 million Seedrians joined up in patriotic fervor to defend their world.

Luke sat back in his chair as he watched from the window of his private quarters. Mere blocks away from the palace building, massive crowds ran through the streets to the jammed recruiting stations.

However, deep inside, Luke knew that they had no chance of victory.

He knew the odds; acccording to the last official census, Planet Seedrius had a total population of 15 billion, with approximately 8 billion able to fight. The Demon Empire had literally infinite reserves of machines, soldiers, and ships, while the Seedrians also had modern, albeit limited, equipment and troops.

The space missions would be especially difficult; even though the Seedrian ships were modern and well-equipped, they couldn't stand against a fleet that could send millions of ships from seemingly out of nowhere and without end.

Even though they most likely would be able to resist the Demons for a little while initially, it was only a matter of time before the Demons simply overpowered them.

His thoughts were interrupted by one of the reporters who went to Thyferra walking in.

"Mr. Luke, our young fox friend is resting. We saw that he took quite a beating; his skull had been fractured severely. We also suspect that some brain damage may have occured thanks to the blunt force. We have already applied healing agents to his wounds." The Seedrian said.

"Give him some food and water the next time he awakens. And I will talk to him. Where is Hertia?" Luke asked.

"She was talking with the little fox earlier. I don't know where she went afterward."

"Fine. I will go and see our little friend when he wakes up." Luke sat up and strolled out the door.

--

As the Demon fleet orbiting Thyferra quickly jumped into Warpspace, just behind them, a section of the Seedrian Space Force came in their place.

The fleet was merely a skeleton recon force; two frigates, the _Justice_ and the _Riverwalk_, and a cruiser, the _Oracle_. They had been sent by the main force, already in defensive position over Planet Seedrius, to recon the space above Thyferra to see if any Demon forces still remained.

The trio of ships soon realized that the Demons had eluded them.

But, before they realized that they had been lured into a trap, they were surprised by the bright flash of a whole Demon fleet coming out of Warpspace almost right in front of them.

Before any of the ships could load their heavy weapons, two massive plasma bursts erupted from the massive Super Star Destroyer-esque Demon flagship, and the _Justice _and the _Riverwalk _both were ripped in two like paper in nanoseconds, their boiled hulls crashing into the fiery rock that once was the planet of Thyferra.

However, the _Oracle _had been more prepared, and two salvoes of high-velocity slugs streaked from its massive Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (MAC) dual turrets.

Both of them were targeted at a Demon frigate, many times smaller than the big bertha of a warship that had vaporized the _Justice_and _Riverwalk_.

The first MAC round overloaded the frigate's shields, and before it could take evasive action, the second MAC round got a glancing hit on the center of the small warship. A small chunk of the famously hard Demon alloy broke off, and pressurized atmosphere flamed outwards from the hull breach.

The frigate, however, was still alive and well; a simple glancing shot couldn't destroy it, even though a direct shot could.

And before the _Oracle _had the chance to retarget its heavy guns, two more massive plasma bursts ended its existence.


	9. The Battle of Seedrius

**Chapter 9: The Battle of Seedrius**

Admiral Dominick pondered aboard the bridge of the flagship of the entire SSF fleet, the _Keldalbe_-class battleship _Crusader_.

The _Crusader _was the pride of the SSF; around 3/4ths the size of a Demon flagship, it was one of the largest and most powerful Seedrian warships ever built. It had numerous MAC guns and other weapons bristled across its surface, along with a large store of nuclear warheads and experimental laser technology.

Twenty thousand kilometers from the planet, around the _Crusader_, a cluster of two hundred Seedrianwarships collected at Rally Point Zulu; destroyers, frigates, twenty cruisers, seven carriers... along with the other two _Keldalbe_-class battleships, the _Yolona_ and the _Tempest_. Finally, there were three repair-and-refit stations, serving as sacrificial shields.

And there wasn't just warships, either. In various positions around the planet were batteries of Super MAC cannons, housed in their own orbiting stations. Five times the power of normal cannons, a single Super MAC round could easily vaporize any smaller Demon ship in a single blast and still pass right through and hit others as well. Their accelerator coils were larger than a Seedrian cruiser, and they could reload within five seconds.

All together, the Seedrians had put up a very formidable Spartan defense above their homeworld, ready to fight for their survival.

--

Zhar patched in a message to Lord Maledict.

The familiar guise of Satan appeared on the screen. "Yes Zhar, what is it now?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"I have the details of all Seedrian orbital positions. Relay them to your fleet before they attack."

"Ah yes, thank you very much. This will prove to be very useful in our upcoming assault. And, Zhar, you remember the plot I told you?"

"Yes _Zir_! I go to Luke, convince him to create the Ultimate Weapon, and then create the Quadraxis with your blueprints that you sent to me yesterday. Then, I will sneak in and install the loyalty virus into its mainframe, causing it to go rogue. Then, I'll tell Luke to use Tsali as a specimen, and we will roboticize him. And when you attack Greengade, you will send a squad of Kommandos to extract me off-planet. Isn't that all correct?"

"Very good. It seems that you are a good follower after all." Maledict said. "It's time for the invasion to begin."

With that, Maledict's image cut out.

_And it's time for my ultimate revenge... _Zhar thought as he left the room.

--

Lord Maledict sat back as his meeting with Zhar the Seedrian ended.

Satan had always planned to use Zhar as his mediator into Luke's inner circle. As such, he was forced to lie to most of his officers when he told them of Operation Weedwhacker for the first time by saying that Maledict himself would be in disguise and trick the Seedrians himself.

The Devil didn't want them to know that he was actually recruiting a disgruntled rogue Seedrian to do his bidding, for his own personal reasons, of course.

Indeed, despite his honest nature, Maledict often ironically found himself lying to his own officers about his true intentions.

However, it wasn't like Satan was fond of him. In fact, instead of rescuing him as he said, Maledict was plotting to kill Zhar when everything had been said and done.

--

Kommander Varl, his military garb pinpoint-clean and studded with award ribbons, took a quick look around the seemingly endless hanger of the DSS _Indomitable_.

The most imposing feature currently in the hanger was a squadron of huge jet-black bulbous gunships with the oddly insectoid appearance of bloated beetles, known as the infamous Soul Rippers.

Flying fortresses in both appearence and strength, Soul Rippers were the most powerful Demon aircraft. About as large as a small town, they bristled with weaponry of all varieties, from rocket packs to heavy nail-driver cannons to anti-ship torpedoes to anti-air SAM launchers and even low-yield nuclear weapons. In fact, they were so large that they each had their own names (often named by their crews), and they could also serve as carriers, launching aircraft right out of small hangers near their dorsal areas. Occasionally, Soul Rippers could even be used in space battles, though most of the time, they were simply cannon fodder out in space.

Also scattered around the hanger floor were platoons of the most famous Demon battle robots; the Spiderbots.

Probably the most versatile Demon war machines, Spiderbots were massive battle robots with giant microwave plasma LA-sers attached to their heads, along with two smaller cannons with longer ranges. They were amphibious, and they were even equipped with torpedoes for underwater combat. A major Demon strategy was to have Spiderbots divided into groups of four or five to maximize their punch and defense, in a formation that was known as the S_azeiurhiufrbgij_, or "spider-wedge".

Varl turned towards a nearby technician who was taking notes on a small clipboard in his hands. "Hey, have these things been tested? I need to make sure that they can stand up to the ground combat conditions we are likely to face."

"Yes, _Zir_. We have already run tests on them in an environment very similar to Planet Seedrius, and they work perfectly." The technician spoke up, and then resumed taking his notes.

"Good. It's time to move in the fleet for the attack."

--

Admiral Dominick stood still as he sent an emergency radio message to all Seedrian ships over the loudspeakers.

_"Attention all Seedrian ships! This is Admiral Dominick of the Crusader. The Demon Imperial Navy has been detected warping into Seedrius orbit! All ships, prepare for battle. May Altus be with us."_

As he finished, his eyes fell upon the sight unfolding before him on camera footage of the entire battlefield.

"Show me footage of the Demon fleet." Dominick ordered.

Immediately, the camera feed switched to the Demon fleet; there were so many ships that the Admiral could not estimate their numbers.

"Holy shit... How many ships are we facing?" Dominick asked to his assistant, Warrant Officer Eve.

"We are counting exactly three hundred twenty Demon ships entering orbit." Eve replied.

Dominick could not tear his face away from the screen; they only had a chance of winning if they outnumbered their enemy... not the other way around.

"Pull back the camera angle, Eve; I need to see the whole battlefield. And prepare our nuclear warheads for immediate launch."

The Demon fleet, led by the same monstrosity of a ship that had been seen above Thyferra, the DSS_ Indomitable_, accelerated towards Seedrius.

All the ships at Rally Point Zulu, with the _Yolona_ leading them, fired their MAC cannons and missiles. The orbital Super MAC cannons fired as well - fifty streaks of white-hot metal burned through the night.

The Demon fleet responded by launching a salvo of plasma torpedoes at the orbital guns - so much fire in space that it looked like a solar flare. Deadly arcs of flame and metal raced through the atmosphere and crossed paths.

The engines of the three repair and refit stations flared to life and the platelike ships moved towards the path of the flaming vapor.

A plasma torpedo caught the edge of the leading station - fire splashed over its flat surface. More bolts hit, and the station melted, sagged, and boiled. The metal glowed red, and then white-hot, tinged with blue.

The other two stations maneuvered into position and shielded the orbital guns from the firey assault. Plasma torpedoes collided with them and sprayed plumes of molten metal into space. After a dozen hits, a cloud of ionizing metal was left where the three stations had once been. The remaining torpedoes hit the haze - scattered, absorbed, and made the cloud glow a hellish orange.

Meanwhile, the fleet's opening salvo and the Super MAC rounds hit the Demon fleet. The smaller ship-based MAC round mostly bounced off the Demon shields; it took more than one hit to wear them down.

However, the Super MAC rounds were another story. The first Super MAC shell hit a Demon cruiser. The ship's shield flashed and vanished, and as the momentum transferred through the ship, the entire hull rippled and shattered like glass into millions of fragments.

As it did so, the same Super MAC round kept going through the wreckage; it finally impacted a Demon battleship that was behind the gutted cruiser. The round tore through both the battleship's shields and armor simultaneously, and a large plume of ionized Demon alloy burned from the dagger-shaped hull. The crippled warship slowly listed downward.

Almost instantly, four nuclear mines, placed as part of the defenses, detonated in the center of the Demon fleet. Four gigantic white spheres of light enveloped their fleet. Dozens of smaller Demons warships with their shields downed flared white and dissolved into nothingness.

The larger Demon ships, including the _Indomitable_, shrugged off the damage; their shields burned brilliant crimson, then cooled.

The surviving Demon ships advanced further in-system. Almost a third of their number was left behind... burning radioactive hulks or utterly vaporized from the Super MAC rounds.

On the giant dual-barrelled plasma turrets of the mighty _Indomitable_, huge balls of light collected - charging up for a hypervelocity cannon broadside. Instantly, ten gigantic orange beams, partially resembling Super MAC rounds, erupted from the giant turrets of the Demon flagship.

A split-second later, seven Seedrian vessals detonated. A single orange beam was aimed towards the _Yolona_.

Admiral Dominick watched in horror as the gigantic plasma blast literally sliced through the entire battleship, drilling through every deck and both sections of its battleplate armor in nanoseconds like it wasn't even there. The doomed _Yolona_ broke apart, and then it's remains rippled into countless shards.

"What the hell was that?! That blast ripped through the _Yolona_ like nothing I've ever seen..." Dominick exclaimed. Now, his superiority in dreadnoughts had been reduced from three to two.

The _Indomitable_ suddenly stopped on its course and then slowly backed away. Perhaps it didn't want to risk getting close to the Super MAC cannons. Whatever the reason, Dominick was grateful to see it withdraw.

The Seedrian fleet slowly scattered. Some launched missiles to intercept the plasma torpedoes, but the explosives did nothing to hinder the the superheated bolts. Six more Seedrian ships went down in flames.

That is when another long-range hypervelocity cannon shot launched from the _Indomitable _arced through space. As if on cue, fifty Seedrian warships instantly detonated, burning, exploding, falling into the atmosphere.

The intact orbital guns fired; twenty shots and twenty Demon ships were blasted into flame and glittering fragments.

The Demon fleet now split up into two groups; half of them, consisting of the smaller ancillery ships, accelerated to target the the remains of the once-mighty Seedrian fleet.

The other half, consisting of the massive _Indomitable _and her supporting screen of battleships, maneuvered to get a clear shot through the ionized remains of the repair stations. They were going to target the orbital guns. Plasma charges collected along their broadsides.

Super MAC rounds once more ripped through space. The super-heavy rounds tore through the clouds of ionized metal vapor, leaving whorls and spirals in the haze. They impacted eighteen more Demon ships - ripped through them like tinfoil, with enough momentum to pulverise their hulls.

Six supporting Demon battleships managed to clear the interfering cloud of vapor. They now had a clear shot.

The Super MAC guns fired again. Plasma instantly erupted from the broadsides of the Demon battleships.

The Super MAC round hit all of the vessals, totally obliterating them. However, the plasma torpedoes had already fired. They streaked towards the orbital guns - impacted an turned the satellites into showers of sparks and molten metal.

When the haze cleared, twenty of the Super MAC satellites were intact; ten had been vaporized.

The _Indomitable _and the remaining Demon ships, in an odd move, suddenly turned around and moved far out of range of the Super MAC cannons, giving the Seedrians a quick breather.

Admiral Dominick slowly breathed in and out; the entire battle left him totally exhausted.

"Do we have a casualty report?" Dominick panted. Damage estimates soon started scrolling across his viewscreen.

The losses faced by the SSF had been crippling - an estimated twenty ships, including the _Tempest_ and the _Crusader_, were left. Nearly two hundred shattered and burning SSF ships floated, lifeless, over the combat area.

"Hey, wait a second... Something's not right..." Dominick said. "Why are the Demons fleeing? Put their ships back on the camera!"

The Demon flagship and its remaining ancillery screen of battleships and lighter warships suddenly started to turn around, so that its dagger-shaped bow was pointing directly towards the planet - bringing the full force of all of its hypervelocity cannons to bear.

And that was when Dominick realized something; the Demon hypervelocity cannons had longer ranges than the Super MAC guns.

That was also, in horror, when he realized their whole strategy; the _Indomitable_was going to move far enough out of range of the Super MAC guns while its accompanying fleet distracted the Seedrian fleet. Then, with the Seedrian fleet gone, the _Indomitable_would bring the full force of its guns to bear. Before then, it was to support the attacking force, but not very much. With the flagship out of range, the Demons could literally sit back and pick ofs every single MAC satellite one by one without fear of reprisal.

And that was exactly what the Demons did. As soon as the mighty flagship turned all the way, no less than thirty hypervelocity cannon blasts streaked right towards the defenseless Super MAC guns.

Admiral Dominick could not even bear to watch the sight; the hapless stations roiled in flames and ionized particles as they were all vaporized instantly.

Trembling, sweating slightly, Dominick went to send one last message to the remaining remnants of his so-called "fleet."

"_This is Admiral Dominick. All remaining ships, pull back immediately and rally around the Space Station TRYPHON." _The Admiral sadly ordered.

The Seedrian then turned towards his assitant, Eve. "Turn us around, and make a beeline for the TRYPHON. We can make a last stand there. We may die, but we will stall the Demons long enough for our ground forces to get ready."

"Sir..." Eve suddenly saluted as the ships started turning to starboard, "Before we are obliterated, I want to tell you that it was an honour and a privilege to serve by your side this day."

Everybody else on the bridge also stood up, and saluted the Admiral with her. Despite the fact that they all faced certain death, Dominick's crew seemed to have no fear on their features.

Dominick gave a kind smile to his assitant. "And it was an honor to have you all serve with me this day."

The _Crusader_soon accelerated towards the intact form of the Space Station TRYPHON. At a single spot orbiting the station, the remaining Seedrian ships, the _Tempest_ among them, floated aimlessly, as if waiting for something.

The Seedrian battleship pulled into the small clump, when Dominick decided to broadcast one last patriotic message to his remaining ships.

_"This is a message to all remaining Seedrian ships. Remember this day, my brothers... For it will be yours, for all time! When this battle is over, the Milky Way Galaxy will forever remember our final stand, our final fight against the tyranny of the Demon Empire."_

Temporarily, the Admiral turned towards Eve. "We should prepare some food for our crews, so we have the energy to fight one last time."

The Admiral then turned towards the microphone once more. "All ships, prepare food for our crews, and all of you crewmates, eat hearty..."

Dominick breathed in heavily before saying his last immortal words with all of his energy.

**"... FOR TONIGHT... WE DINE... IN HELL!!"**

Before Dominick shut the microphone off, he could hear massive amounts of cheering and hollering coming through from the remaining ships. Despite their impending doom, all of the Seedrians were still ready to fight to the last ship and the last MAC round.

From the entrance to the bridge, a cart came around to all the personnel, serving out small plates with food on them. Everybody except for Eve and Dominick took a plate and ate their last meals heartily.

Dominick himself did not take any food; he simple took a bottle of natural pure wine from the cart and two glasses; one for himself, the other for Eve.

Giving his second cup to Eve, he opened the bottle and poured some of the wine into both of their glasses.

The two Seedrians stood for what seemed like minutes, simply looking at each other.

"... A toast to all Seedrians, Eve... and to you." Dominick raised his glass.

As Eve raised hers, they both toasted to each other, and then drank down the wine, savouring every drip of it. Even though neither of them noticed, many of the other crewmates also toasted each other and talked some final words to each other.

One of the crewmates on the bridge, a young blue-colored Seedrian named Blake, stoood up suddenly. "Well guys, this is it... Let's make the most of this fight, and let's show those Demons who we are!"

All of the other crewmates stood up and gave three cheers in enthusiastic support of him.

That was when Dominick turned around to look at his radar; sure enough, all of the remaining Demon ships were quickly closing in on them.

The Admiral prepared to give the command to fire as soon as the Demon ships got in range.

However, the Demon ships never came within range. They stopped short as the Demon flagship's hypervelocity turrets began to charge up.

Before anybody could react, a single blast shot out and impacted the Tempest. Meeting the same fate as her sister ship the _Yolona_, the _Tempest_was sliced in two and vaporized. Five smaller Seedrian ships also detonated from the energy of the blasts.

Dominick, from looking hard enough, was just barely able to see yet another cannon shot begin to charge.

This one was aimed at the _Crusader_; he knew it in his gut.

Sure enough, one final beam launched directly for the _Crusader_'s bridge. The Admiral could see death staring at him in the face through the energy

"Chief Luke... I have failed you... Forgive me..." Dominick muttered.

And with a single blinding flash, Admiral Dominick and his ship were no more.

--

Astorath watched as the third and final Seedrian dreadnought, the _Crusader_, was totally obliterated in a flash of energy, a smirk on his muscular features.

Despite his arrogant attitude, however, Astorath didn't really have much to be arrogant about. The Demon Imperial Navy had suffered colossol losses in its first fight against the Seedrians. Over a third of the Demon force had been destroyed, along with huge amounts of heavy equipment and countless Demon crewmembers.

Privately, he was impressed at the commander of the enemy fleet, Admiral Dominick. Despite the fact that he had just killed him, Astorath still thought of him as a worthy adversary.

He was especially impressed at his resolution against all odds to try and make a final stand, while Astorath was expecting him to either run or surrender, at the very least. In fact, Astorath almost felt a twinge of sadness for having to finish off a foe as worthy as Dominick.

Astorath's thought's were interrupted by the sound of Kommander Varl, Astorath's right-hand man, coming behind him.

"_Zir_! We have won the battle and we have captured the Space Station Tryphon. All ground forces are fitted and ready for our landings." Varl saluted him.

"Okay. Varl, you know that plan," Astorath turned around and spoke.

"Commence Operation Thunderbolt now."

--

(whistles) Talk about an epic battle. But trust me, there will be more epic battles soon enough.


	10. Operation Thunderbolt

Finally, an update.

---

**Chapter 10: Operation Thunderbolt**

Lord Maledict the Devil spoke to Astorath from the dark and spacious confines of the Demon war room, on a large partition in the Sanctum of the Hierarchs.

"Yes, my lord. We won a landslide victory over the SSF, and the Space Station TRYPHON has been captured for our own use. We had very few losses as well." Astorath lied.

Maledict rolled his eyes; Astorath was always horrible at lying. "That's not what I heard. The official reports state that you lost over a third of your attack fleet, along with huge amounts of equipment needed for the landings. Despite your decisive success, we have to wait to replace all that lost material, which gives the Seedrians more time to prepare their defenses."

Astorath grunted angrily, not wanting to have to be lectured on his casualties.

"Astorath, I know all too well that fleet combat is not your strong point, but please, next time, at least try to make it so we don't lose _all _our ships?" Satan asked. The Prince of Darkness knew that he was being compared to his rival, Beelzebub, for how good he was in combat.

"Sorry!" Astorath angrily slurred, "Next time..."

"Well, anyway, I do have a little thing I need to report on. Recently, we've been working on a new battle walker designed with the latest technology to barge through fortifications and defenses of any kind, mainly as a future replacement to the aging Spiderbot. It's called the Megalith, and we just finished with creating a full working specimen. I have a feeling that they will be imperative for our success."

"However, we are not completely finished yet. Thus, this is what I want you to do; using your intact forces, I want you to commence the landings right now around our prearranged LZ on the Procyon Rain Forest. I need you to establish a temporary foothold planetside and keep it until the first division of Megaliths are ready. Once I get the chance to deploy them with your attack forces, we'll have enough strength to go on the offensive and proceed with the rest of the operation."

Astorath rolled one of his nonexistant eyebrows.

"Oh, I see. You want me to invade Planet Seedrius with no reinforcements?" The Prince of Darkness asked sarcastically.

"Just... go do what I said." Maledict sighed.

--

Luke sat back in fear as the the seemingly endless casualty list from the first battle between the Seedrians and the Demons scrolled on the main screen of the Supreme War Room, located in Luke's governmental palace complex.

The total losses were staggering on both sides; the Seedrians, along with losing Admiral Dominick, their most capable leader, had lost every ship in their fleet. The Demons, too, had lost truly massive numbers in the face of their brave Spartan resistance; according to the final reports, over a third of their attack force was wiped out.

However, they could easily replace their losses with speed, whereas all Seedrian losses were nearly irreplaceable.

Marshal Lily, the commander of the Seedrian defense forces, appeared on a nearby viewscreen.

_"Sir! I have just sent messages to our colonies around the galaxy requesting any and all assistance immediately to break a path in before the Demons set up an orbital blockade. I have also reactivated our CZAR flying carriers and Collosus squadron for immediate deployment."_ Lily saluted.

"Do we know where they are going to land?"

_"Judging by where their surviving ships are gathering in orbit, we have pinpointed a possible landing spot in the Procyon Rain Forest, on the equator. I have already sent a corps of elite jungle fighters to ambush them the moment they land. I have sent several engineer divisions with them to reactivated our old defenses near that area."_

"Good. The tree canopy will nullify their radar. We must fight as hard and as long as possible." Luke spoke.

_"We are assuming the attack will start at any moment, so everything is ready."_ Lily spoke, before her image cut out.

"Sir!" Somebody spoke to Luke behind his back. The Seedrian Chief turned around; a young soldiers snapped a salute.

"Yes, son?" Luke spoke in a gentle tone.

"We are detecting a large fleet of Demon dropships moving through the atmosphere as we speak. They should be landing within the next 30 minutes."

"Looks like Satan isn't giving us any time to regroup. Get our defences ready immediately."

--

On board one of the millions of dropships descending into the cold atmosphere, a young Hell Knight named Xchen O'ranheez looked around at all of his komrades preparing their battle gear.

Xchen was what his komrades knew as a "nymph"; a newbie only a few months out of training. The invasion of Planet Seedrius was going to be his first action ever, and even he had a lump in his stomach that refused to vanish.

The young Demon checked his weapon for the sixth time that entire ride. Xchen was carrying an SBPD-666 assault rifle, the standard-issue weapon for all Demon troops. It had a legendary reputation for having a perfect balance of firing rate, power, reliability, ruggedness, and accuracy, but because it fired superheated plasma bolts, it occasionally could overheat for a second or two.

Another Hell Knight, Staff Sergeant Kig 'Yaranj, was the only soldier standing in the cramped confines of the dropship interior. He was Xchen's commanding officer, and his mentor since long ago. He was a tough and effective leader, but selflessly devoted to the survival of the soldiers under his command, and as such was admired by all who met him.

Xchen took a look out the window; they were still at a dizzying ten-thousand feet in the sky, and all anyone could see was green as far as the eye could see with small blue lakes and rivers dotted about.

Through the other windows along the side, there were a seemingly endless cloud of identical dropships, moving like an epicly huge nest of bees. The sight was amazing, even to the most battle-hardened Demons.

Kig suddenly turned to all of his men, including Xchen. "My brothers... Remember this day... Let's get out there... and let's do what we trained for!"

All of the troops, including Xchen, gave three loud cheers. Kig then turned back to the way he was, staring out of the dropship door over the planet.

"We're gonna come in hot! Get all your gear ready, boys!" The Staff Sergeant yelled.

Everybody, including Xchen, could see that they were descending at an amazingly rapid pace. The tips of the highest trees soon started to skim the bottom of the landing ship.

As they came to a hover, three fast ropes immediately dropped from the opened door.

**"GO GO GO!!"**

With that, in a neat line, all of the Demon soldiers instantly started sliding down the ropes, into the shadowy cover of the tree canopy.

Xchen was one of the last soldiers to get out. As he grabbed the powerful rope and slid down, he temporarily looked in wonder at the skyscraper-like trees, but he shrugged the sight off as he landed softly on the ground.

His fellow soldiers had taken up fighting positions in the large circular jungle clearing, on one knee with their weapons at the ready. It was impossible to see anything outside the clearing thanks to the thick vegetation and darkness.

The young Hell Knight, following his allies, also got to one knee and looked around as he heard the dropship above him fly farther and farther away. Alongside it were countless other dropships also taking off into the sky.

For what seemed like an eternity, nothing moved; the only things that could be heard were the chirps of the birds and other wildlife throughout the jungle.

The Staff Sergeant slowly stood upwards. "Okay men, let's..."

_BAM! _

A red-black mist spewed from his torso as the Staff Sergeant fell to the ground in agonizing pain.

That's when the carnage started. As Kig fell to the ground, seemingly countless laser blasts suddenly whooshed past the Demons in all directions from the darkness of the jungle.

Xchen dived to one knee, laser bolts flying inches past him, and took aim through the red scope of his assault rifle.

Looking as carefully as he could, he could just make out approximately where the laser bolts were flying from, and he pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. The weapon recoiled slightly as it let out a spew of red plasma.

Another Hell Knight courageously ran up and dragged the wounded Staff Sergeant to a concealed area with thick brush covering it. He would be safe for now until more supplies and reinforcements arrived, and as such, Xchen didn't worry abut him.

The superheated plasma bolts impacted some large ferns, setting them on fire and dispeling the jungle shadows.

That is when Xchen first saw his enemies. Several yards in front of him, taking aim on a log, was a male Seedrian, nearly naked, with his skin literally painted to match the jungle environment.

Before the Seedrian could draw a bead, Xchen took aim and pulled the trigger.

A single plasma bullet hit the Seedrian squarely in the head, and Xchen saw the soldier flip backwards as his skin boiled and carbonized.

The young Demon got up as fast as he could and sprinted backwards a few feet, to a better firing position. He was able to just barely see numerous other comrades of his go down with varying wounds; since some of them took laser bolts in the head, he knew some of them were effectively dead.

He took aim right next to another Demon in his same squad, who had a portable communicator on his back. He was yelling out something into the mouth piece.

"Negative! Negative! Stand by! We are cut off and surrounded on all sides by concealed enemies! Friendlies and enemies mixed in all over the place! Requesting close air support and Soul Ripper at... one-five-zero and fifty-five degrees!"

Almost instantly, three sleek ground-attack planes, their black paint giving them the appearances of bats, swooped in from under the clouds, and a small spread of bombs were released from their undersides.

The explosives impacted an area of forest far ahead of them; a wall of flame and smoke scorched through everything in their path

The radio operator kept shouting as another storm of laser projectiles whooshed past the Demon platoon. The Demons were firing their weapons as accurately as they could, but the thick jungle and the camouflage of the Seedrian soldiers impaired their efforts.

Of course, that was before a Soul Ripper gunship, part of the first Soul Ripper platoon to arrive on the planet, finally showed up.

From the heavens, Xchen could make out a huge bulbous black gunship dropping from the clouds, its propulsion stabilizers radiating steam. Despite its size, it moved extremely fast through the air, thanks to its advanced flying systems.

As the mighty gunship came to a hover, rainbow spheres of light formed from the two massive nail driver cannons, one on the nose below the huge cockpit, and one on the underbelly. Even though Xchen couldn't quite see them, numerous missile launchers also activated from their various sockets positioned near the front of the craft.

With a distinctive "_zzzzhhh_" noise so loud that it caused nearly ever bird in the forest to fly off, the two massive nail drivers fired.

A hurricane of rainbow-flashing firework projectiles and explosive missiles instantly swept through the canopy, causing a whirlwind of rainbow sparks which burned through the undergrowth with extreme prejudice. Xchen could actually see numerous Seedrian jungle soldiers start on fire, their naked bodies enveloped and turned to smolders by the rainbow flames which consumed them.

In fact, had Xchen not been used to the sight of such devastation, the destruction would have terrorized him.

When the Soul Ripper finally let up its devastating run, the entire forest ahead of them was totally clear; nothing but the ashes of the once-mighty trees stood in their way. Various bonfires of rainbow-colored flames were dotted about to and fro.

The Staff Sergeant, who had gone down earlier, limped out of the bushes; a large disinfected bandage-like roll was on his side, some blood visible through it. Despite his serious wounds, Xchen's commanding officer seemed more concerned with leading his men.

All of the Demons, with Xchen following, moved through the smoldering path. The smell of ash and flame was almost intoxicating, almost worse than the air of the surface of Planet Hell itself. The _ack-ack_ of weapon fire echoed throughout the jungle.

Not too far away from them, now that the forest was clear, Xchen could notice dozens of smoke plumes all across the horizon. In addition, he could also see a ridiculously huge dropship land nearby, with a certain giant eight-legged surprise in it's hold.

As it landed, the huge Spiderbot war machine slowly started moving forward. The Spiderbot was much taller than the highest trees in the forest, and as such was able to plow through the underbrush by simply walking.

Xchen saw the huge laser on the body begin to glow, and then unleash a microwave plasma beam of devastating power.

Sweeping the beam over the trees, the Spiderbot simply vaporized every tree in sight, which gave the Demons many more paths to move equipment.

And that's what the Demons did. Thousands more giant dropships came and started to deploy whole platoons of Spiderbots to lead the initial drive.

The surviving Seedrian guerillas, meanwhile, had somehow disappeared into the jungle; there were no reports on their location or main base. As such, they evacuated themselves so fast that it seemed like they vanished right in front of the Demons' eyes.

The very last ship to land was different from the others; it was very small, more like a personal corvette. It landed in a large clearing near where Xchen and his squad was.

As the unloading ramp opened, the familiar form of Kommander Varl paced onto the smoky battlefield.

As he approached them, Xchen immediately stood at attention for any new orders. However, the Kommander simply walked towards the wounded Staff Sergeant Kig, who also was able to barely manage a salute.

"Very fine job today, Sergeant. You and your men get some rest and check your gear. We'll let the Spiderbots and Soul Rippers do the talking for now." Varl looked around with a small smile on his face, "I will be sure to tell Kommander Astorath about your bravery in action."

Of course, Xchen was secretly overjoyed; that would mean that every soldier in his platoon would get medals of valour, including most likely a wound medal for the Staff Sergeant.

"Hey, wait a second..." The Staff Sergeant suddenly turned and looked over the horizen, "What the hell are those?"

At first, Xchen was confused, until he suddenly noticed what the kommander was talking about.

Several miles in front of the Demon landing force, a huge army suddenly appeared out of the haze, mainly consisting of what looked like gigantic humanoid walkers.

"According to intel, they're called Colossus. But it doesn't really matter what they are. We will annihilate them all the same," Varl replied arrogantly.

The Spiderbots, positioned all over the smoking rain forest, started marching as fast as they could towards the Seedrian welcome wagon. Of course, thanks to their behemoth size, they were notoriously slow, thought they were actually known for being quite fast for machines of their size and strength.

Setting up a large table, Varl took a holo-map of the LZ area and spread it out on the table. It instantly activated, giving Varl and his officers a 3D view of everything that was going on across the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was joined. The legion of Spiderbots closed in on the Seedrian battle machines, preparing to strike with their microwave plasma lasers.

However, they were interrupted when the squadron of Colossus opened fire on them first. A huge Phason laser, white in color and shimmering brightly, began to fire from each one, sweeping across the Spiderbots, which now were only a little ways away.

As if on cue, seven Spiderbots detonated in huge semi-nuclear fireballs as the Phason beams disintegrated their thick hulls instantaneously and caused their volatile reactors to overload, flattening and scorching huge areas of jungle around them.

The remainder of the Demons opened fire. Six of them alone opened fire on a single Colossus, which was able to stand up to their plasma rays of death for several seconds before collapsing in a charred, smoking heap.

"Hmmm... Those Seedrian battle walkers seem to be extremely strong." Varl commented as he looked upon the battle.

Taking a small radio, he prepared to report to Astorath, his commanding officer.

"Lord Astorath, this is Kommander Varl. We have engaged the Seedrian forces. Their battle machines are much stronger and hardier than we anticipated, and we have already suffered heavy casualties, though we have gained ground and set up a provisional base camp. We are going to need the big guns."

The low testosterone-filled German-accented voice of Astorath quickly responded.

_"Roger Kommander Varl, this is Astorath. I will soon receive a division of the new Megalith megabots, and they will definitely help your fight. Proceed with your objectives for now, and keep the Seedrians away from the LZ. We need you to hook up with the other divisions if the landings are to succeed. Astorath out."_

Xchen could hear the conversation between them, which triggered some thoughts in his head.

_Megaliths? Never heard of those. Must be those new so-called megabots that everybody has been talking about in the barracks. They say that a single Megalith could easily conquer a whole planet. _

_But I doubt it._


	11. A New Weapon of War

I know I've ignored this story for awhile thanks to Sonic X: Dark Chaos, so I've decided to pull it out, dust it off, and begin updating it again. Thus, I've prepared this short chapter for everyone.

---

**Chapter 11: A New Weapon of War**

In the huge war room of Mission Kommand, the Devil and several other miscellaneous Demon military leaders crowded around a large holomap of the Seedrius landing area.

The holomap itself, roughly the size of a long banquet table, showed a seventy kilometer by seventy kilometer view of the operation starting line. Demon units were displayed in red; Seedrian units were displayed in green. Larger Demon and Seedrian units, such as Colossi and Spiderbots, were simulated as they appeared and moved, while infantry companies simply appeared as small red dots.

The rain forest itself was also simulated to give an idea of the terrain. It was currently configured to only show the area of the landings, but it could be changed to show any place on the Seedrius if the need arose.

Standing next to Satan was a bright-red hologram of Astorath; being on the surface of Seedrius at the moment, he could not be present back on Hell. His finger pointed to various area of the map as he described the situation to his lord, while Maledict nodded and gave his own ideas to further moves. The other Demons officers were gving orders to their particular units on the field, like attack orders and movement coordinates.

Stooped over the map innocently was a young Demon officer, Kolonel Xaphram Yan'zaebos. He had been newly promoted by his superiors, recommended to Maledict for support, and was duly accepted into the operation plans and standard records taken after every operation. Being a novice fresh out of training, the invasion of Seedrius would be his first-ever military battle.

The officer listened into the conversation happening across the table from him.

_"... Even though the landings themselves were a success, Demon troopers have already encountered resistence in the form of Seedrian guerilla fighters sniping and attacking from the thick underbrush of the rainforest. Many casualties have already been reported, although per the battleplan, we have more than enough to stem the flow of serious casualties. We have now begun the process of dividing the Legion into Army Groups North, Centre, and South once we finish consolidating our initial planetary gains..."_

Though he tried his best to appear to be doing something so that he didn't look like a freeloader, in reality, he was deeply absorbed in his own thoughts.

He temporarily looked up, glancing at the Devil standing across the table from him. To his surprise, he noticed that Satan was also descreetly staring at him, though he attempted to make it seem like he was still looking at the map.

The two Demons stared at each other for a few unnerving seconds, before Satan paid his attention back to the map.

Xaphram took a short breath out; seeing the Devil himself stare at him was easily intimidating enough to unnerve even a Demon officer.

"Kolonel Yan'zaebos!" Maledict suddenly barked after a pause of a few seconds. The officer stood at attention.

"... Status update on our Megalith production?"

"Zir, twenty Megalith prototypes have now been assembled and are awaiting your inspection." Xaphram replied like an unswerving servant.

There was yet another pause, before the Evil One broke it. "Very good. If you all excuse me... Beelzebub, lead the way. I would like you to demonstrate your newest creation."

"Of course! I will get everything ready!" Beelzebub exclaimed cheerfully as he buzzed out of the room. He was obviously giddy about finally unveiling his beloved Megalith project.

Satan turned around and briskly began strolling out of the hall, until he stopped suddenly.

"Kolonel! Please come with me." He ordered.

Immediately, Yan'zaebos followed his unholy lord out of the hall, leaving the others somewhat confused by the Devil's choice. After all, Xaphram was well known for graduating bottom of his class from the Caronius Military Akademy.

---

Satan and Kolonel Yan'zaebos strolled quickly but calmly towards the terminal to high-speed teleporter that would take them to Beelzebub's secret testing area hidden in the mantle outside the capital city.

They ended up walking onto a small platform near the base of the Sanctum tower, positioned on stilts right above the moat of bubbling MAG-ma that surrounded the obsidian tower.

"Hey Xaphram, I have a quick question..." Maledict suddenly stated, turning and looking at him if he were one of the Evil One's best friends for years.

"Anything, Zir." The Kolonel replied, somewhat mystified by this sudden attention he was receiving.

"... Do you know the Legend of Disaster?"

The Kolonel cleared his throat nervously. "... N-No, Zir, although I know that it is the last remaining piece of Forerunner lore."

"Korrect." The Devil turned and did not say another word. The Kolonel was mystefied; he did not understand why his unholy lord asked him this specific question.

However, before he could think of a reason, the tram came to a halt; it had already reached its destination.

---

The Demon Emperor and his officers strolled into the audience of military leaders as soldiers were setting up the podium and stage in front of a gigantic hatch leading to one of the primary testing areas of the hidden facility underneath.

Beelzbub suddenly buzzed upwards from out of nowhere and took his place of honor.

As he cleared his throat, his voice was heavily amplified across the massive cavern by the speaker system set up on his flanks.

_**"Lord Maledict and my fellow komrades; what you are about to witness is the effort of twenty thousand years' research, development, and building!"**_ The Lord of Flies triumphantly declared as if he was declaring victory after a war.

Immediately, with a very loud groaning noise, the gigantic hatch behind the stage opened, and the floor rose up to the surface, revealing Beelzebub's pride and joy.

A dramatic gasp fell over the crowd as it came into view; Xaphram even heard Maledict breath in slightly.

_**"Komrades, behold; the Megalith!!"**_

Out of the ground came a monstrosity of a battle walker several times larger than a small city, many thousands of feet tall and several miles in legspan. It had four gargantuan pointed legs, which despite the size were somehow strong enough to hold the behemoth up above the ground. The visible cockpit on the front of the walker, which was the size of a bridge on a medium Demon warship, was designed to appear like a snake; its eyes were replaced by the two gigantic glassy windows of the bridge, and it even had small fangs underneath. Flanking the "head" were two town-sized dual barrelled plasma cannons, recognizable as the same type used on Demon warships. Underneath its enormous body, two of the same microwave plasma beams found on Spiderbots were attached. It had a large, spider-like bulb on its rear, looking remarkably similar to a real arachnid.

A roar of approval and applause rose from the small crowd of officers, including the Devil and Xaphram. Yan'zaebos also could hear the other officers talking amongst themselves, wondering in awe at the leviathan that stood before them.

Behind Beelzebub, a large movie screen rose from the stage and began to play a slideshow of blueprints and other research material.

_**"The Megalith is the pinnacle of Demon military technology, and arguebly the most powerful war machine ever built."**_ The Lord of Flies began explaining, _**"One of its primary purposes is to eventually replace the ageing Spiderbot for leading assaults and invasions."**_

**_"The main weapons of the Megalith are its two dual plasma hypevelocity cannons. These pieces of artillery are directly copied from the same design used on medium Demon cruisers. As you all well know, the IRD Sector 6 Research Department has long attempted to mold space weapon technology with our ground machines, but we have only had limited success until now."_**

On the screen behind Beelzebub, a roll of film footage began to play; a live firing Megalith weapon test that took place on Hell's barren surface several weeks before.

The Megalith in the footage slowly aimed its giant shoulder cannons at what appeared to be a small ash-covered mountain, one of countless others covering Hell's surface.

_BANG!!_ The two cannons fired in unison, unleashing four glowing plasma shells that flew through the air like crows.

The shells hit their mark. Immediately, the entire screen was blinded by what appeared to be a huge flash of nuclear light, unleashing a powerful shockwave that cause large avalanches to come down the nearby volcanic cliffs and mountains.

When the light finally settle, there was no mountain; all that was left was a tiny jagged hill of rocks.

Some nearby Demons whistled in surprise as another round of applause came about.

_**"And that is not all, my friends; here is another live fire test, this time commenced against Demon machines."**_

Another roll of film footage began playing; the Megalith was positioned in an insanely large testing room on one side, facing a large group of Spiderbots.

The Spiderbots fired their microwave LA-sers at the enormous metal beast. The superheated beams of plasma merely dissipated themselves over the Megalith's armoured hide.

In turn, the Megalith returned fired; in yet another brilliant flash of nuclear light, the Spiderbots were turned into giant piles of ash and dust. The metal floor of the chamber was scorched black by the sheer thermal power given off by those monstrous plasma-spitting guns.

_"Oooohhhhh..."_ The audience _ooooh_ed and _ahhhh_ed, erupting into even more applause.

Maledict glanced at Beelzebub; he was obviously having the time of his life up on that stage, being the center of attention for once.

Ah yes, hubris, the Devil thought; the deadliest and most abominable vice in existence. However, he understood completely the reason for his friend's pride, for even Satan was impressed by the sheer destructiveness of these new terror machines.

_**"The secondary weapons of the Megalith are numerous and varied; underneath its body are two of the same microwave laser models currently used on our old Spiderbots. It also has numerous AA defenses scattered over its body..."**_

Beelzebub kept on explaining the workings of his new brainchild, but by this point, Maledict was actually not listening to him at all; he was completely wrapped up in his own thoughts.

So wrapped up, in fact, that he didn't even notice that the demonstration had ended several minutes later until he noticed everybody dispersing.

**"**Hey! **EARTH TO MALEDICT!!"** The Devil heard a familiar voice cry out behind him.

He turned around slowly, and just as he expected, an overwhelmingly cheerful Beelzebub was fluttering around directly behind his back.

"Hmm?" Satan asked apathetically.

"You okay?" The Lord of Flies asked him, totally oblivious to what the Evil One was thinking about.

"Yeah... I'm alright."

The Devil kept his thoughts to himself for the moment. After all, it was far too early to put such an idea into action.


	12. Meeting of Minds

---

**Chapter 12: Meeting of Minds**

The first thing Tsali Z'Charon felt as his eyes slowly fluttered open was an extremely sharp, throbbing pain all over his skull. He groaned as a sharp sting emanated through his cerebral bones.

As his eyes finally corrected their blurred vision, he was greeted by a turquoise-blue ceiling, rather than the blood red sky that he had been looking at the last time his eyes had been open. His hearing was heavily dulled; his heartbeat and shallow breath reverberated through his hearing, and everything either sounded too far away, or muffled.

Still curious as to where he was, he raised his body up into a sitting position as fast as he could, and was rewarded with a massive stab of soreness reverberating from his small body. H groaned again as he felt this new sensation, just as he began trying to understand his new surroundings.

He was lying in a hospital bed, bright-white sheets covering his body. Parts of his body were covered with large bandages and bloodied stains.

"Where.... Where am I...?" Tsali muttered slowly, still panting.

"Oh, you are awake." A beautiful voice suddenly spoke from nearby

Tsali nearly jumped out of his fur in surprise as he turned towards the female voice. However, he calmed down once he saw who it was. He recognized the creature as a female Seedrian, wearing a white medical dress and carrying a small clipboard.

"Oh... um, hello." Tsali cordially greeted as politely as he could, as he had been taught by his parents to act when speaking with Seedrians.

"At first, I thought it would take much longer for someone your age to wake from those herbs..." The Seedrian nurse commented.

"... What?"

"Don't move. Lay back down, you need your rest." The nurse commanded.

"But... what's going on?" Tsali asked desperately as the memories of the last few days rapidly began coming back to him. However, the nurse came over to him and gentle laid his aching body back onto the bed.

"... We'll explain everything later, but you still need to get better."

Without warning, there was a knock on the door of the hospital room. The young Seedrian briskly stepped to the door and opened it.

On the other side of the door were two other Seedrians; one of them was very short, and didn't look older than ten at the most. The other was obviously an adult, for she was much taller. The adult had bright-white hair with a light-blue petal adorned on her head, with large blue eyes and clothed with a white flowing petal dress. The younger one had slightly more pale skin with large green eyes and yellow-green hair with two petite petals. The two Seedrians looked rather similar; in fact, Tsali could almost tell already that they were somehow related to each other.

"Hello there." The adult spoke. Even to Tsali, her voice was stunningly beautiful and unbelievably fair.

"Oh, m'lady!" The nurse bowed slightly.

"I'm here to see the boy." The Seedrian requested.

"He's right on the bed here."

The Seedrian doctor began describing Tsali's condition. "A severe blow to his head, which we believe was caused by a Demon rifle butt, has done some significant nerve damage. His back has numerous chemical plasma burns and several of his ribs were broken. However, other than that, he is in stable condition."

"I would like to talk to him privately." The white-haird Seedrian spoke sternly.

The nurse immediately stepped around her countrywomen and left the room, closing the door behind her. The adult took several steps over to the side of Tsali's bed.

"Hello there, Tsali Z'Charon." The woman spoke, obviously already knowing his name.

"Who are you, and how do you know my..." Before Tsali could finish his sentence, he was stopped by the sensation of her hand on his cheek; it was incredibly soft and loving.

"... I am Chieftess Hertia. I am the leader of the Seedrian people."

"Wait... Chieftess _Hertia_?!" Tsali exclaimed; he had heard of her before and knew of such a figure being the female leader of the Seedrians. "For _real_?"

"Teehee! You don't know?" The little Seedrian skipped over to Tsali bedside and began poking childishly at his fur. "Hmmm... You're really soft. I've never seen a creature like you before."

Hertia sighed. "You'll have to forgive Daisy, my niece. She has never seen a kitsune before."

"That's okay." Tsali sheepishly replied, letting her feel his furry skin.

Hertia suddenly turned her head away, as if she was about to say something, but sincerely did not want to.

"... The doctor told me that you should be okay." She commented.

"Oh, that's good news. But I need to ask; do you know what happened to my parents or sister? Are they alright?" The young brown fox asked.

There was a pause as the kitsune could see a small amount of tears form in Hertia's eyes as she looked away.

"... No, I don't. I'm sorry." The Chieftess lied, for she knew the fate of his family all too well.

"It's not a problem. I was only wondering."

"Hey, you're from Thyferra, right?" Daisy asked.

"... Yes, I am."

"What is it like there?" Daisy stared at him dreamily.

Tsali simply hung his head down, completely at a loss for words. "Ummm.... Okay, I guess."

Daisy giggled slightly at his own stupor. "I've always wanted to go there, I've heard it's beautiful."

Though neither of the children noticed, Hertia completely turned away as despressed tears began running down her cheeks; the combination of childhood innocence marred by death and destruction, all caused by the satanic political manipulation of the Devil himself, was far too much for her heart to bear.

However, she successfully wiped away her tears and regained her composure.

"Come, Daisy. He needs his rest." Hertia commanded.

"Okay, coming!" Daisy spoke, glancing at Tsali in his eyes. "I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Alright then, see ya later." Tsali parted.

He watched the two Seedrians walk out of the room and close the door; in particular, though, he was still staring at Daisy. Something in his head clicked on at the sight of her; she was incredibly cute and obviously very kind.

However, his thoughts vanished as he collapsed upon his hospital bed out of exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.

---

Several hours later, Hertia walked into the Supreme War Room, and she saw to her surprise that rather than gathered around the holo-map of the front, Luke and his fellow comrades were gathered around the main screen on the wall.

As it turns out, there were actually three feeds opened up in different browsers at once.

Appearing in the left browser was bearded Middle-Eastern man with deep brown hair, a Jewish cap, and deep brown eyes, with two holo-tablets hanging from his traditional priestly robes. A large necklace with a Jewish Star hung from his neck.

In the right browser was an Arab man who was also wearing nomdic robes, though with slightly different coloring. He was wearing a small scarf about his own neck. Finally, he had a large tattoo of a crescent moon on his forehead. He also had various metal plates on the top part of his visible chest.

Finally, in the middle feed was a man that looked like the other two combined; he also had a deep Middle-Eastern complexion, but rather than nomadic robes, he was wearing a bright-white military garb studded with combat medals.

"Who are these gentlemen? I'm not entirely sure I recognize them." Luke got everybody's attention as he came to the front of the group before these three newcomers.

The man in the middle bowed his head slightly in greeting. "Greetings Chief Luke, brave resister of Demon oppression."

"Excuse me?"

The man smiled.

_"My name is Jesus Desjiliac Christos. I am the Prime Minister of the Angel Federation."_

Luke simply stood there, obviously containing a mix of shock and surprise

"... Jesus? But... Who are these other two men with you?"

Jesus nodded to his right, towards the man with the stone tablets. _"This is Chancellor David Moses Solomon, the Supreme Chancellor of the Jewish Republic,"_ He then nodded again towards the man with the turban, _"And this is Prophet Muhammed Abu-ayesh bin Laden al-Zarquadi, the Great Caliph of the Emirate of Mecca."_

_"**Allahu ackbar!** Pleased to meet you."_ The man now known as Prophet Muhammed spoke saluted in his distinctively Arabian vocal tone. David said nothing; he only nodded in introduction.

_"Muhammed and David are my subordinates, their nations are semi-independant states of the Federation, and both of them answer to me."_ The mythological Son of Man explained.

"Enough with the epic descriptions. What have you contacted me for?" Luke asked rather rudely, though none of his new comrades made any indication of offense.

_"It's rather simple. We would like to make an offer."_ David suddenly spoke for the first time.

_"I would like to pledge wholehearted Angel assistence to your fight against tyranny at the hands of the Demon Empire. In one standerd day, a combined Ferderate Navy fleet will be in range for a Warp jump into Seedrius orbit. The only way the Demons can get reinforcements are from orbit; my detachment will attempt to intercept their rendezvous areas and cut off their reinforcements so your forces can keep control of the surface until we can negotiate with the Demons to end their illiegal invasion."_

"You're planning on _negotiating_ with the those Demon scum?!" Luke suddenly became livid, "Did you not see what they did to Thyferra?! They slaughtered almost a billion people in a completely unprovoked attack against a defenseless colonial population!! As the principle ally of Thyferra, I cannot stand by and let their untimely deaths be for nothing!!"

Jesus did not react in any visible way._ "Chief Luke, with all due respect, we are not here to fight a war for you; we are coming to your aid in order to bring about a peaceful solution without any more bloodshed."_

"I understand what you mean," Luke spoke, "But what will you do if the Demons come back with a much larger force? Your little peace detachment will be massacred!"

Muhammed suddenly smiled in his own ego. _"Oh young Seedrian, I think you underestimate the power of the Federation."_

_"President Yahweh has spoken to us already; he has said that it is the best course of action at this point."_ David interjected.

"... And then what?" Hertia finally spoke up.

There was a long silence as everyone in the room simply stared at her; none of them had noticed that she had been listening to the whole thing.

_"... Excuse me, who is this woman?" _Jesus asked.

"Oh, this is my wife Hertia." Luke hurriedly introduced her.

David suddenly gave her an extremely perverted look and whistled. _"Why, hello **hello** there!"_ Hertia just stared at him in confusion.

_"Can it, David. Now's not the time for more adultery on your part after that little... fiasco with Bestheda and Uriah..."_ The Islamic Prophet called him out.

David angrily shushed him;_ "I thought I told you never to bring that up again!"_

The Son of Man rolled his eyes in annoyance, _"That's enough, both of you. You two are as bicker-prone as Metatron on a bad day."_

**"AHEM!"** Luke angrily interjected, once again redirecting all attention to himself. "Thank you. If at all possible, I would like you to send me a copy of your plan."

_"No way."_ David refused.

_"Sorry Luke, but out of the risk of the Demons getting their hands on it, I cannot send you a copy; the plan is strictly classified."_ Jesus refuted in a somewhat more polite way. The Seedrian Chief sighed.

"... Whatever. Just get over here as soon as you can."

Without any sort of farewell, the browsers showing David and Muhammed shut off, though Jesus still remained on the screen.

_"Then I will see you later."_ The Son of Man followed his two comrades out as his browser shut off as well.

---

As Jesus ended this conversation, he turned to yet another one.

**"Admiral Tobit!"** He called, and promptly, the face of yet another Middle-Eastern man appeared on another screen in the room. The Admiral was wearing an unusual mix of tribal and military clothing; though he was wearing a uniform, he had various tribal ornaments adorning his head.

"Yes, sir?" Tobit asked.

"Is your expiditionary force assembled?" The Son of Man inquired.

The Jewish prophet nodded and stepped aside to let his officer see for himself. "Exactly three hundred ships have been assembled."

In the fleet that Jesus saw floating in the vacuum behind the glass that Tobit was standing in front of, he saw how varied the fleet actually was. There were almost equal numbers of Angel, Jewish, and Emirate ships in space.

Despite the fact that they formed one nation politically, the Emirate of Mecca and the Jewish Republic had very different combat styles and tactics from the official Angel Federation ships proper, most evidenced by the appearance and weaponry of their ships.

The Angel ships were easily the most well-rounded of the Federation Navy. They had starkly aesthetic designs with curving hulls and elegant, sometimes asymetrical angles, and rarely had any totally flat surfaces or jagged angles.

Normally blue-green in color, the primary weapons of the Angels were railguns, which fired solid chunks of matter at light-speed. They were terrifically effective weapons against the shields used on Demon ships, which had a notoriously deadly weakness towards strong kinetic impacts.

Compared to Demon warships, which relied heavily on an inflexible mix of armor and shields for protection, the Angels leaned closer towards insanely strong shield systems to "tank" enemy fire while firing salvo after salvo of railgun charges.

The Muslim ships were very unique, both ornamentally and militarily. The ships used by the Emirate Navy were characterized by their ornate curved golden hulls, often laced with various Islamic religious symbols.

The preferred Muslim weapons were missile launchers, a weapon type that came in many different sizes and payloads, which gave Emirate ships amazing versatility. Despite being infamously slow, they had extremely durable armor, and relied heavily on it in battle.

Finally, the Jewish ships were probably the most unusual yet campy types of all.

Ships belonging to the Republic Fleet were known for their haphazard, ramshackle orange-tinted designs, often studded with fragile solar panels, making them the polar opposites of Muslim warships. A common joke among both Demons and Angels alike was that the Jews used duct tape and cardboard to keep their ships spaceworthy or that they were akin to flying junkyards.

The weapons that the Republic used did not help this reputation; primitive artillery cannons and machine guns formed their weaponry. However, Jewish ships were legendary for their incredible speeds, which combined with the alpha-impact hitting power of artillery made them some of the deadliest ships in the Universe, despite their overall physical weaknesses.

All in all, these three ships builds proved invaluble against the intimidating aura of the Demon Imperial Navy, which was several hundred times larger than all three Angels-based fleets combined, and easily stronger in quality.

"Heh... so you decided to bring some flying junkyards with you?" Jesus sarcastically asked Tobit, who was Jewish and Republic-borne. The Angel officer glared at him, but didn't say a word.

Jesus chuckled; he occasionally teased his subordinates on occasions, always in good humour. "Hey, I'm just kidding. I know they'll serve you well." Tobit then smiled.

_"I've already made all preparations for fleet battle plan and warp coordinates. The fleet is ready to launch, Sir."_

Christ nodded. "Good. Send the detachment there immediately."

_"Yes, Sir!"_ With a salute, Tobit vanished from the screen.

--

Of course, anybody who has read the biblical Book of Kings will know the Bethsheda/Uriah reference; hence, I decided to make a little pun off of it between David and Hertia.

Anyway, please take a look and leave a reivew.


	13. The Second Battle of Seedrius

Today is my golden birthday, yay me! : ) As a little celebration, here is the next big battle chapter.

...

**Chapter 13: The Second Battle of Seedrius**

"This is the _Rabbi Ben-Judah_, commence maneuvers on mark 6.1 on 98 degress north... All designated flagships, report in!" Admiral Tobit gave orders to his ships in normal Basic as they finally came out of Warpspace.

There was a quick pause through the ramshackle bridge of Tobit's _Maelstrom_-class Republic battleship, the_ Rabbi Ben-Judah_.

_"... Al-Quwarizimi, standing by."_ A voice reported to Tobit in Arabic; the _Quizamiyah_-class battlecruiser of the Emirate detachment, commanded by Kalifat Ali Muhammed al-Walim.

_"... Icarus, standing by,"_ Another report came in Greek; the Angel _Hyperion_-class battleship, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Tovil-Ioba.

"All ships, at battlestations. The Demon fleet will certainly still be above Seedrius, and we cannot waste time preparing to attack." Tobit added in his message, before checking over the battle-readiness of his beloved ship.

An exceptionally large and slow warship considering its Jewish origins, the _Rabbi_ _Ben-Judah _was Tobit's personal flagship and was easily the strongest ship under his command.

During the Battle of Earth two thousand years previous, when he and his battle group were cut off around the rings of Saturn, he used the _Ben-Judah_ to destroy two hundred and thirty Demon warships, narrowly escaping from the encirclement. His resulting hero status and rapid promotion from the action gave him a strong personal attachment to his ship.

It was armed with forty 3500mm artillery cannons, organized in broadsides of twenty on each flank, along with thirty light missle launcher designed for point defense. This gave it enough sheer firepower to challenge even the largest conventional Demon warships on a one-to-one basis.

This ship itself had the unusual appearence of what appeared to be three long sections held together by small connecting areas near the fore bridge and the engines. Two enormous solar panels jutted from both the top and the belly of the ship, giving it the vague appearence of a bizarre shark.

The rainbow Warpspace tunnel began to fade and finally collapsed as the entire Angel fleet appeared in Seedrian orbit.

_**"Allahu Ackbar! God is Great!" **_Tobit heard the crews on his fellow Muslim warships loudly cry out over the comlink, affirming their willingness to die for their faith.

_"Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen."_ Tobit also heard Tovil-Ioba venerate in Latin, his sacred language, in a much quieter way compared to their Muslim allies.

Tobit himself also felt the need to utter a short exultation before battle. "_Avinu shebashamayim, yitkadesh shimkhah," _He silently prayed in Hebrew.

And thus, the battle began.

...

"Komrade Astorath! We have detected something appearing from Warpspace, " A Hell Knight officer on the bridge of the DSS_ Indomitable _called out to Astorath, who had returned to his ship upon inspecting the prrimary landing zone.

"Yes brother, what is it? A guerilla force?" The Prince of Darkness asked in an uncaring manner, originally beliving it to be nothing.

He took a small bottle of rummy and began drinking it just as the viewscreen of the flagship showed a group of all-too-familiar ships appearing from Warpspace millions of miles away.

Astorath instantly spit out his drink in shock as he realized what had appeared over the planet. "... Angel scum!"

"What are they doing all the way out here? How did they get this far beyond our borders?" The other Hell Knight inquired.

"... I was not planning for dis... So the Angels are now helping de plant people..." Astorath muttered as he attempted to decide what to do. He glanced and scanned the makeup of the fleet - an equal number of Emirate, Republic, and Federal ships - and immediately afterward came to a decision.

"We have no choice. All ships, prepare to attack! Wipe out de Angel scum who dare encroach upon our borders!" He ordered loudly, once again scanning the makeup of the fleet on the screen.

He only saw one ship that could possibly fight the mighty _Indomitable_head-to-head; the central flagship, which Astorath recognized as a powerful _Maelstrom_-class Republic battleship.

His blood began cooling. Though he was no fleet tactician, Astorath was certainly intelligent enough to understand the threat posed by that one ship alone, having encountered the staggering firepower of those same Republic warships countless times before. In fact, they were one of the few Jewish ships that the Demons widely feared thanks to its impressive strength and impressive speed for ships of their size and firepower.

The _Indomitable_ and its supporting fleet began coming about, maneuvering around to face the new enemy force with maximum firepower.

"Exactly how many ships are against us?" Astorath asked.

"We're counting two-hundred ships, Zir, and they are being led by the _Maelstrom_-class battleship the _Rabbi Ben-Judah_, under kommand of Admiral Tobit."

_Two hundred Angel ships... and commanded by the skilled Admiral Tobit... Can I fight off that many with what I have left? I have to try._

"... Press on de attack. First order of business; upon coming into range, focus all fire on de Jewish Republic ships. We must take dem down before dey can accelerate to full attack speed; otherwise, dey will be far too fast for our turrets to hit. The Federate ships - especially dose Megathron battleships - are more deadly dan the Emirate ones, so dey will come next."

"And what of the _Ben-Judah_?"

"... Focus all hypervelocity cannon fire on de _Ben-Judah _once dey are fully charged. We have to destroy it as soon as possible, before dose 3500s get in range to attack dis ship."

Red motes of light immediately began collecting across the broadsides of the Demon escort ships surronding the _Indomitable_, as they prepared to fire at the Republic ships.

Just as the resulting hail of red plasma beams shot straight for them, the tiny, nimble Republic cruisers accelerated and boosted away; the opening broadside sailed past them harmlessly before dissipating naturally in the cold void of space. Astorath recognized the cruisers as _Stabber_-class, some of the fastest in the Republic fleet.

The Jewish ships made a beeline for the Demon fleet. The escort ships fired more plasma beams at them, but the enemy vessels were so fast that the ramshackle warships easily maneuvered and veered around the Demon attacks. As the Republic vessels came closer and closer, the glow from the plasma grew much stronger as the ships once more attempted a final plasma torpedo attack.

No good. Just as before, they missed the speedy Jews.

Astorath realized that they were now too close for standard plasma turrets to track. "Shit! All ships, take evasive action! Launch all remaining fighter squadrons and intensify forward point-defense firepower! I don't want any of dem attacking my ship!"

It was now abundantly clear how easily the Jewish ships were able to dodge; the cruisers, flying more like starfighters than medium warships, zoomed past and ran circles around the clumsy Demon ships.

The Prince of Darkness knew that one of the unlucky ships was about to die, no matter what he did.

And sure enough, within several seconds, the cruisers unleashed a machine-gun barrage against a Demon battleship floating close to the _Indomitable_. Zipping in circles around the doomed warship like sharks, the enormous autocannons unleashed their playload, spraying the Demons with crippling fire.

The hail of bullets, specifically designed to penetrate through Demon-made shields, passed straight through the shields and poked large holes all over their hulls, causing large sections to spontaneously combust from atmospheric decompression.

The force of the resulting bright explosions caused Astorath to step back a bit and shield his eyes from the glare.

"Blow dose _Juden _back to deir scrap heaps!" The Demon roared.

His order was quickly followed, for immediately, Astorath saw a large swarm of automated fighter drones pursue the blazing-fast Stabbers, launching a hurricane of plasma bolts.

Within seconds, half of the _Stabbe_r-class cruisers spun wildly out of control and exploded near Astorath's ship; the Demon drones had ripped both their shields and paper-thin armor to shreds almost instantly. Some of them crashed into the _Indomitable_ itself, though they merely scratched the thick armored hull.

The Hell Knight leader smiled in satisfaction as he saw the surviving Stabbers flee as fast as they could move. The Demons attempted to fire on the retreating survivors; of course, the Republic ships simply dodged until they were out of range and safely covered by the mother-like guns of the _Ben-Judah_.

Covering the retreat of their comrades, the stark aesthetic Angel Megathron battleships began steamrolling forward, their hulls glowing bright-blue as their shields went into overclock mode.

"All ships, focus fire on dose Angel battleships!" Astorath ordered. His entire fleet opened fire on the squadron group of _Megathron_-class battleships; a firey whirlwind of plasma lances and glowing crimson torpedoes.

Five plasma torpedoes hit the lead Megathron; its ultra-strong shields deflected the first three, while the fourth one overloaded its shield and the fifth one hit the ship head-on. The beautiful warship sagged and boiled as the superheated plasma melted it into ionized metal particles.

The remaining Megathrons opened fire. Twenty huge 1500mm railgun shots and twenty Demon cruisers were summarily blasted into flame and glittering fragments.

Spheres of crimson light began collecting in the barrels of the _Indomitable_'s hypervelocity cannon turrets as the warship prepared to unleash its strongest weapons in its enormous arsenal.

A salvo of two hypervelocity shots aimed at the leading group of Megathrons. The first hypervelocity blast, although it was blocked by the Angel shields, completely disabled their systems.

In a moment, the second crimson beam flew straight through the battleships and incinerated them; ten Megathrons had vanished into ash within an instant.

Another hypervelocity shot flew towards the Jewish detachment, hitting the group and taking it by total surprise. Forty of the remaining fifty Jewish cruisers were vaporized; only ten managed to escape the firey red beam of death.

Now, the followers of Islam decided to take the fight to their enemies.

Slowly positioning themselves behind the Federate ships, the ornate gold-plated Muslim _Iahlid_-class battlecruisers unleashed a barrage of several thousand cruise missiles, flying far too fast to be shot down.

The hail of propelled explosives fell upon the Demon fleet. Although cruise missiles were easily shrugged off by the larger Demon ships, to smaller warships, they were lethal. Several smaller ancillery ships were picked and blown apart by repeated cruise missile strikes.

However, the Emirate ships had made a strategic miscalculation. For in that moment, the surviving Angel warships had slowly retreated to a safe range, leaving the lumbering Emirate battlecruisers vulnerable.

Astorath's fleet took the chance to strike first, and the _Indomitable_, upon its master's orders, steamed forward as it began settling into gun range.

_Where is your precious Allah now? _He thought with a snicker as his ships prepared to fire on the nearly defenseless Muslims.

Until Admiral Tobit's ship intervened. The Prince of Darkness suddenly saw the unmistakable blasts of Jewish artillery emanating from the hull of Tobit's flagship. He realized what was about to happen.

**"... GET DOWN!"** He screamed as he jumped forward and loudly hit the deck. And just in time.

The _Indomitable _was promptly rocked and shaken up by a salvo of twenty 3500mm artillery shells that pummeled the dreadnought's shield into oblivion before passing into the alloyed hull. Enormous chunks of Demon alloy was blown away in various areas along the Super Star Destroyer-esque hull.

The mighty Demon dreadnought shuddered and was slowly being moved by the impacts, the warning alarms loudly shrieking.

Astorath got back up to his feet as the ship wobbled and shook. "FIRE ALL HYPERVELOCITES!"

And his order was followed; the hypervelocity turrets that had not been damaged by the 3500s opened fire on Tobit's ship. The Admiral's Maelstrom took evasive action as quickly as it could.

The first crimson beam barely skimmed the top of the ship; despite their notably slow speeds, the Maelstroms were still much faster than nearly any comparable Demon ship.

It still hit the fin-like solar panel jutting from the top, which was promptly incinerated right off the ship.

The second hypervelocity round was more skillfully aimed; rather than missing, it impacted Tobit's flagship near the engines. The powerful shields of the Maelstrom, however, managed to dissipate the power, although it still nearly overloaded the _Ben-Judah_'s shield.

Another artillery bombardment followed; bright-white shells tore through ten more Demon cruisers and five Demon battleships. The remaining shots missed their mark.

However, now, Astorath had been given an opportunity; his ship had just enough time to bring the full targeting systems of his ship to bear.

Without warning, the smaller Muslim warships of the Emirate suddenly began speeding towards the Demon fleet as fast as they could, flinging missiles everywhere around them like maniacs and nearly destroying several more Demon ships.

Astorath, having quite a bit of experience fighting against the followers of Islam in particular, knew that they had now switched in desperation to their infamous "Jihad" mode. They would go into a frenzied suicide attack, charging towards their enemies before causing their ships to self-destruct, thus destroying themselves and anything around them for Allah.

They used the tactic not only in space, but also in land battles on planets; upon being given the orders to do so, their soldiers would strap primitive explosives to themselves and blow themselves up against the Demons, killing themselves for their God and taking with them as many Demons as possible.

_"JIHAD!" _Astorath barked, "Target dose shiny ships!"

All the remaining Demon ships switched their targeting to the golden ships streaking towards them at surprisingly fast speeds. With utter and prompt _aktion_ by the Demons, the suicidal Muslims were wiped out in a whirlwind of crimson fire.

The climax of the fight had passed.

...

Admiral Tobit looked down on the ground in shame. Despite his numerical superiority, most of his fleet had been annihilated within only about an hour.

The in-ship alarms blared through his ears as his badly-damaged flagship, smoke pouring out of its battered hull, limped out of Demon cannon range. The topside solar panel had been broken off, although the lower belly panel was still intact.

On the other side, Kommander-in-Chief Astorath's fleet was at the limit of its endurance; having no reinforcements to rely upon, the same ships that had just recently fought off the SSF had worn themselves out agains the hated Federation.

Now, only about a fifth of the Demon fleet that had originally arrived over Seedrius was left; roughly fourth-fifths of his original force had been destroyed by both the SSF and the Angels together.

And yet, in the proccess, the Demons had wiped out both the entire SSF and most of the Angel task group sent to support them.

"... All ships report. Come about and prepare to retreat." Tobit ordered grimly, knowing that he had failed.

_"Negative!"_The fanatical tone of Kalifat Ali Muhammed al-Walim, the officer of the Muslim detachment, whined over the channel, _"We can't just retreat like cowards! For God, we must destroy them! God is Great!"_

_"Admiral, we must fall back and regroup!"_The despondant voice of Lieutenant-Colonel Tovil-Ioba followed.

Tobit paused before replying, "... All ships, come about and prepare for Warpspace jump on my mark!"

_"I will not!" _The Muslim Kalifat's voice refused again.

"Kalifat Ali, you will Warp with me on my mark! That is an order!" Tobit sternly commanded.

The Kalifat audibly sighed in annoyance, for he knew he had no choice in regards to his orders, "_I_... _Roger that."_

Promptly, the remaining Federation ships came about, beginning to activate their Warpdrives for departure.

"... Any reports on our casualties?" The victorious Astorath inquired. Normally, he would be jovial in the face of victory, but knowing the scale of his new difficulties, he was much more grim.

"Roughly a fourth of our remainding fleet is going, _Zir_. In total, we took out almost one-hundred fifty Angel ships." On of his Hell Knight brothers replied.

"And what of my ship?"

"The Indomitable has suffered extensive damage to the engines and Warp Drive. It may take some time to repair. Until then, I am afraid that we are stuck here while our Warp drives are repaired."

"... Zhit." Astorath cursed, "Now we're sitting ducks up here to any orbital weapon dat dose plants cook up. I must send a distress message to Caronius immediately."

Astorath knew one major thing; the Invasion would take much longer thanks to this. Enormous quantities of troops and munitions had been destroyed with the ships they were on, and the Demons were now at a distinct disadvantage. They had now lost the momentum that they so desperately needed.


	14. Conversations

Just a quick upload that I had sitting here for a while.

...

**Chapter 14: Conversations**

Beelzebub fluttered slowly into the interrogation room; at this hour, it was rather dark and completely silent except for the mutant's natural buzzing noise.

He sat down into a nearby chair, and prepared t speak to the hologram projector.

"Contact: Kommander-in-Chief Astorath." He spoke grimly. Immediately, a hologram of Astorath appeared. He looked beaten and badly shaken.

_"Who the fuck... oh, it's yoo."_ He greeted.

"I heard that you drove off the Angel fleet that was sent to Seedrius just a few days ago."

_"Not without cost, komrade. Most of my fleet is gone, and my ship is badly damaged. I'm stuck here until we're repaired, so I have plenty of downtime now while I'm overseeing de repair efforts."_

"Good, because we need to talk."

_"Lemme guess; yoo called me just to humiliate me further?" _Astorath asked.

"No!" The Lord of Flies assured, "This has nothing to do with that. This is something far more serious, and it's something that has been nagging at me for a while now."

_"Tell me."_

"... I noticed that something is seriously wrong with Maledict."

_"Yoo just noticed?"_ The Hell Knight sarcastically spoke, _"Wow, yoo're thicker dan me."_

"Just shut up and listen, Astorath!"

_"Okay den, keep going."_

_"_Are you sure that we are doing the right thing by shaping his plan? Do you think his whole secret plot is really worthwhile?"

_"... Between yoo and me, I don't think what we're doing is right. As a Hell Knight, I would question dis whole thing, but as de Demon Army Kommander-in-Chief, I wouldn't."_

"Makes sense. It's just that something about this just doesn't feel right. I feel like I suddenly don't want to be a part of his plan." Beelzebub wondered.

_"Trust me komrade, I have already had dat exact same feeling."_ The Hell Knight empathized; highly rare for him.

"Then what should we do? I had always suspected he was not totally sane, but now, I realize that Maledict may have gone out of control."

_"I wouldn't go so far as to say dat he has gone out of whack, but he was never really sane in de first place, ja? __I personally think that he's just doing it for the lulz."_

"Yeah, most likely."

_"The big problem with yoor concern is dat Maledict's simply too strong to resist. We should just play along right now until we can get a good excuse to convince him otherwise."_

"But... I should at least _try _to convince him to stop." Beelzebub decided.

Astorath suddenly spoke, _"Hey, hold on for a moment! Why is it dat yoo have all of a sudden become so caring and sentimental for de plant people?"_

"I'm not trying to be caring or sentimental; I'm trying to be realistic." Beelzebub solemnly replied.

_"Says de one who can get a boner from a mirror..." _The Hell Knight sarcastically joked. The overgrown wasp-fly sighed angrily.

"... No. Unlike you or Maledict, I'm looking more towards our war with the Angels rather than towards our present situation."

_"Hmm?"_

"If we exterminate the Seedrians, the Angel scum will surely use it as propaganda against us, and countless border galaxies will join them. Rather than defeating our enemies, we will simply multiply them."

_"When he first told us his plan, I was thinking dat exact same thing." _Astorath agreed,_"The way he presented it was so unusual and so bizarre dat I could tell it would almost certainly fail."_

"... With disastrous consequences." The Lord of Flies added.

_"Yes, with disastrous consequences."_

"I'm gonna go up now and tell him my thoughts directly. I'm not sure how he's gonna respond, though."

_"He'll be alright, especially because it's yoo who is telling him. If it were me, he would be pretty pissed at de fact dat I would rather be fighting Angel scum dan doing dis."_

"Hmph... In any case, I should be going. I'll check back with you later."

_"Okay den, see yoo."_

...

"Dioxin! Dioxin?..." The pale Seedrian general known as Jave called as he ran through the halls of the Citadel, the main headquarters of the Seedrian military.

"Where is General Dioxin?"

Jave found his comrade in the very spot he was expecting; sitting at his desk staring lovingly into a small mirror.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS IT?" Dioxin turned and screamed at his friend angrily; he hated being diverted from his "me" time. Jave stayed silent until his comrade calmed down a bit.

"Where is Chief Luke? Things have now officially shot to hell."

"Why? What happened?" Dioxin asked.

"I have just gotten confirmed reports that the Angel force sent to help us was almost wiped out."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"... That's it. It's over; we are now officially screwed," Dioxin fatalistically told, "Without the Angels, we won't have any hope of winning."

"Unless we inflict enough casualties on them to make them give up." Jave suggested, "Like that primate race did at one point."

"Weren't they called 'humans' or something?"

"I dunno, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is that I have to find Luke right now."

...

Luke walked into his personal chamber for the night. Greeting him in the room was his wife Hertia, dressed in a traditional kimono. She was laying on the bed reading a book; there was also some newspapers nearby that detailed the progress of the war effort.

The first thing he noticed was that his wife was quietly humming something to herself; as he realized, it was none other than Demonish words.

"Hertia?"

"Yes, honey?" The woman switched her attention to her husband.

"What are you singing?" He was somewhat angry at her apparent penchant towards Demon music, but hid it.

"It's a song I learned back when I was a kollege student in Caronius. It's called 'He Will Provide', and it's a classic." She replied.

It was then that Luke also noticed the book in her hands; the cover said; _"The Book of Kommandments: New Demon Edition."_

"And you are reading a Demon book _why_?"

"Dear, I know you don't want to have anything to do with them, and sometimes, neither do I. However, I spent a good portion of my life in Caronius during my college days, and thus, I have always loved Demon culture. The Kommandments have also been close to me for a long time; their fair words of peace sooth me whenever I feel sad or hopeless."

"You... _do_ know that the one who wrote them is the same one who conquered us and murdered millions of innocents, right?"

Hertia locked eyes with him, giving a slightly offended look. "Just because I believe in the Kommandments doesn't mean I believe in Maledict. Indeed, I believe that Satan is a hypocrite for not following even his own laws."

"... Oh."

"You know, you could learn alot from the Demons, dear. I certainly did when I was young." Hertia closed her eyes as she reminicsed.

"And _you _could learn alot from watching that footage of Thyferra being burned." Luke smartly replied.

Hertia let out a little chuckle, "Oh Luke, you're always so stubborn." She closed her book and put it on the desk beside her.

Luke smiled. "And _that's _why I'm your husband, amirite?"

Both of them laughed like it was a great joke.

"C'mere, you!" Hertia playfully grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the bed. The two of them lay on the bed, holding each other in arms, staring in each other's eyes romantically.

"... Remember when we first met?" Luke smiled and asked.

"How could I not? It feels like it was only yesterday..." His wife innocently replied

Luke yawned loudly; he was tired, and ready to go to bed. Hertia was exhausted as well.

"... I love you, Hertia."

"I love you too, Luke."

The two of them leaned in and kissed each other, before Luke turned out the lights and drifted into slumber with his wife asleep in his arms.

Or at least, they were about to fall asleep before something loudly burst through their door with a _CRASH_.

"Gaaah!" The couple awoke in a flash, Hertia crying out in surprise.

"What the fuck..." Luke rubbed his eyes, turning on the lights as his eyes adjusted. His friend Jave was standing before him, panting like he had just been running a marathon.

"Jave, what is the meaning of this? You got a lotta nerve bursting into my room, especially at this time!"

"I'm sorry, Chief, but we got a massive problem!"

"What is it, Jave?" Hertia asked, realizing that he was serious.

"... The Angels have been defeated!"

"E-Excuse me?" Luke quietly asked.

"I have just gotten confirmed reports that the Angel expeditionary fleet has retreated in disarray. According to the reports, they lost over three-fourths of their ships."

"Now what are we going to do? We can't possibly defeat the Demons head-on..." Hertia stated.

"We have to try and resist as long as possible... Either that, or..." Suddenly, Luke got an idea in his head.

"... Or what?"

"Hmmm..." He ruminated. "I may have an idea, but I'll give it out at my conference with my technology department tommarow."

...

Tsali Z'Charon sat in his hospital bed as he read the newspaper. He read carefully about the war thus far; the invasion of the Procyon Rain Forest and the recent battle between the Angels and Demons high above the planet.

He had wires connected all over his body, so he could just barely move around to read it. He had often read the newspapers back on his home planet, so this was not unusual to him.

He scanned over the bold headlines, some of which he could tell had happened less recently; **"DEMONS LOSE MAIN FLEET IN FIGHT AGAINST THE SSF" "INVASION!: DEMON LANDING IN THE PROCYON RAIN FOREST"** and **"BATTLE OF THE MEGAPOWERS: ANGELS AND DEMONS COLLIDE IN SEEDRIUS ORBIT"**

Since he had little else to do, the young fox carefuly read each story to update with what had happened while he was out, and to makes sense of what was going on.

Everything he had found was nothing but terrible stories upon terrible stories; the Demon Empire had attacked Planet Seedrius, and they fought a large space battle against the Seedrians space forces. The Demons won, and had just recenty invaded a jungle near the equator.

"Tsali?" A young female voice called out, distracting the fox from his reading. It was none other than Daisy, Hertia's niece.

"Oh, hey there Daisy." Tsali greeted her, smiling as she walked up to his bedside. She also smiled back.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here right now, but I had to come and give this to you."

She gave him a card and a small bouquet of flowers; the card said _**"Get Well Soon!"**_

A blush covered Tsali's face. "... A card? For me?"

"Yes. I want to make you feel a little bit better."

"Oh, uhh..." He stammered, "... Thank you."

Daisy put the card and the bouquet on the desk next to his bed. However, then, she placed her warm hand on Tsali's fur, once against causing him to blush.

"Ummm..." He once against was without words.

"Teehee, you look so _cute_ when you blush like that!" She playfully teased him.

"Well, I guess it's because I've never been with another girl like this before, except for my sister." Tsali explained, chuckling nervously. However, he collected his cool again. "Hey Daisy, I wanted to ask you..."

"Yes?"

"Do you know what's been going on recently? I've been reading these stories in the news."

"No, I don't. Aunt Earthia hasn't told me much." Daisy used her pet name for her aunt, back hen she did not know how to pronounce "Hertia".

"Oh..."

There was an awkward pause, of the kind so familiar between young kids who wre privately close.

"Well... I better be going." Daisy somewhat stammered as she got up and began to leave.

"Thanks again for the card!" Tsali called to her.

"You're welcome." She replied as the door shut behind her.

...

Back at base camp, Xchen and his komrades sat around in the small lounge area, enjoying a refreshing bottle of rummy during their short break; they had no orders at the moment, and thus were relieved for a few short moments.

"Hey guys, I hear we're gonna go to Davur soon." The Major Knight known as Drenthsic "Drent" 'Nvjiue spoke.

"Davur?"

"Well, about time! As long as we get onto the battlefield so I can shoot more." One of Xchen's komrades, Sergeant "Bif" Bifgh, commented.

"Can it, Bif." Kig spoke, glancing at the bandage on his massive thigh. Though he had been shot, he had suffered only minor injuries and very quickly returned to duty.

Suddenly, one of their own stolled by, and all of the Knights recognized him as Kommander Varl. As the brutish leader stepped to them, Xchen and Kig immediately stood up at attention.

"At ease, my brothers." Varl dismissed them.

"Greetings, komrade." Kig, recognizing Varl's informal mood, replied.

Technically, per their tribal traditions, all Hell Knights were brothers and equals together. Thus, they hypothetically had no real ranks, even though they took ranks when they joined the Demon Army.

Hell Knights had their own culture that was rather distinct from the general Demon population; their culture had originally been completely independant of the Empire. Their squads followed their own tribal discipline rather than Demon military law.

"I came over here to tell you to finish up your drinks quickly and report to the Meeting Tent. I have new orders for you from komrade Chief Astorath."

"We're pretty much, done, Zir, so we'll follow you."

All of Xchen's platoon followed Varl to the small makeshift tent that despite its appearence was completely vital; all Demon orders from the DSS _Indomitable_ in orbit were being relayed through the complicated equipment set up everywhere.

"So, Zir, what is our next fight?" Xchen spoke up. Varl turned and looked at him.

"Hold in your excitement and I'll tell you. Now, here's the situation." From behind Varl, a small holographic projecter began playing; a large city map appeared.

"Gentlemen, this is the city of Davur; population of 100,000 native Seedrians and nearly 40,000 foreign Seedrian colonists." Varl began, "Courtesy of the IRD, our intel has discovered that the recent attack on our motherships in orbit twelve hours ago was supported by a large transmitting array somewhere in the city that hindered outside Demon communication, and has now begun blocking our transmissions into orbit, along with our messages to our vehicles already in the field."

"Staff Sergeant Kig, you and Baal Two-One will move out to our provisional LZ at 0730 hours tomorrow morning," He pointed to a spot on the center map,

"There, you will join with Baal Three-One and Baal Four-One. You will be airlifted into Davur by the Soul Ripper squadron Cankerworm. At 0830 hours, you and your squad shall be dropped into the Bakara Market here, in the heart of the city, which is where we have detected the transmitter to be."

"Meanwhile, Baal Three-One and Baal Four-One shall be dropped in these two locations here and here." He pointed to two other spots on the map to the east and west, "They have been ordered to find intelligence and to provide fire support."

"Expected enemy resistence?" Drent suddenly asked. Varl sighed.

"... That is the bad part, komrade. Our intelliegence has detected a massive buildup of civilian militia inside the city, being lead by two critical leaders of the Seedrian Army Corps proper; Lieutenant-Colonel Landar and Field-Marshal Rose." Varl took out a small slip of paper with two pictures, one of a male Seedrian and one of a female.

"Estimates of enemy strength now run as high as 200,000 militia. As you probably realized, speed in the operation is critical; within thirty minutes of your landing, there will certainly be thousands of the plant people bearing down on you. You must destroy that transmitter and escape before you are overwhelmed."

"What about the two Seedrian officers?"

"Baal Three-One and Baal Four-One have already been tasked with capturing them. That will be their jobs. You have the strict task of destroying that transmitter."

The screen shut off.

"Operation has now been codenamed 'Gothic Cobra'; airlift codename 'Lilith'. Do you understand your orders, gentlemen?"

"Yes, Zir!" The entire platoon smartly responded.

"Of course you do, brothers. Now go get some rest; check your weapons, armor, and ammo. You leave for Davur at 0730 sharp."


	15. Of Angels and Demons

Just a quick filler chapter for now, since I'm kinda low on ideas for this story at the moment.

...

**Chapter 15: Of Angels and Demons**

Jesus Desjiliac Christos was sitting in his comfortable but certainly not lavish office inside the Dodecagon, the headquarters of the AAF located in the heart of New Jerusalem, reading a very interesting economics book titled _Mammon: How To Make The Most Of It_. Currently, he was waiting for information on the success of Tobit's detachment.

He wasn't expecting to hear the door open up, and a little girl to run in with an older woman behind her. The little girl was wearing a cute white skirt with a small decorative tiara that complimented her brown eyes and hair.

"DADDY!" The little girl cried with joy, getting the Messiah's attention.

"Sarah!" Jesus' face brightened as he put down the book and stood up. His daughter immediately charged and glomped her father's robed legs. Jesus lifted his beloved Sarah up, the two of them laughing with happiness.

His eyes switched to the person of his wife, Miryam "Mary" Magdeline Christos, who was just smiling at him graciously. He put his daughter down and went over to his dearly beloved.

Without saying anything, Mary leaned in and gave him a passionate kiss. "I missed you."

Jesus smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Likewise."

He looked over her body; he genuinely loved Mary more than anything else without the slightest tinge of unfaithfulness, which made their marriage both very happy and very long-lasting.

"What has been going on?"

"Actually, not too much. The only major thing right now is that there has recently been an incident in Demon space. A race called the Seedrians have come to me for help."

"You're talking about Thyferra and the Seedrians, right? I saw something about that in the news."

"Precisely. I'm surprised you knew about it."

"Well, now it's getting much more coverage since we got involved. Did you have anything do with that fleet that got sent?" Mary inquired.

Jesus, not wishing to reply, looked down in shame. Mary understood his reaction; she had a sort of sixth sense when it came to the feelings of her husband.

Suddenly, the buzzer indicating that someone was trying to message him began ringing.

"Here we are! I have been waiting for Tobit to call me and report. Could you quickly take Sarah out? I just wanted to see talk to him, since it's very important. I'll be out as soon as this is finished."

"Of course, dear." Mary promptly barked to their daughter in Aramaic. The young girl obediantly followed Magdeline out of the room.

Jesus then patched in the message, and on his personal holo-screen, the image of a despondent Admiral Tobit appeared. He looked quite ragged and tired.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Jesus asked.

"... Everything has gone to Hell, Sir. No pun intended." Tobit replied, diverting his eyes away.

"Huh?"

"The Demon fleet above Seedrius wiped us out. We didn't stand a chance. They were way more numerous than we thought before."

"... How many ships do they still have?"

"I don't know, but not too many. We were able to do a number on them before Astorath's flagship annihilated us."

"Astorath? You mean, the Prince of Darkness?" Jesus asked, for he had no idea the stupid brute that was Astorath was actually leading the whole thing.

"Yes. The DSS _Indomitable _was leading the fleet, and is also presumably leading the Seedrius invasion as a whole. I can only assume that Astorath was aboard; the _Indomitable is_ his beloved flagship, after all."

"... Hmph. No wonder you lost." The Christ commented, sighing. There had been no information from the Seedrians that Astorath was there.

"What should we do?'

"Well, it would take a huge fleet to fight Astorath's ship, and even then, it would take massive casualties in order to disable the _Indomitable_. Unfortunately, we don't have many other ships around there - not nearly enough anyway - and the nearest detachment will take a standard year to get there. By that time, the Demons will likely have conquered the whole planet."

"How can we break this to Luke?"

"He probably knows already." Jesus answered. "I'm afraid there is not much we can do now. For the time being, Luke will just have to fight on his own."

"... I don't like this... Something is very wrong here... This isn't any ordinary invasion."

"I don't like this either, friend. Realistically speaking, however, I'm not sure we have a choice."

"Why would the _Indomitable_be above Seedrius leading an invasion, when it could annihilate the planet from orbit within hours and remain perfectly safe? Unless..." Tobit wondered.

"... Unless Maledict started this war on purpose as part of something much larger... and his plans involve something vital on Seedrius itself." The Christ continued.

"Other than plants and trees, and possibly a Doma Emerald, what would he want so badly?"

Jesus shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Although knowing what Maledict likes to do, it must be something extremely dangerous."

"Then we must send everything we have to save Seedrius."

"And what good would that do?" Jesus inquired, "With the _Indomitable_ there, any large-scale attack would be a waste of lives and resources, both of which we are exceptionally low on.

"We can't just sit there. We promised Luke with aid."

"Yes, we did. That is why I will talk to him shortly and ask what he needs."

...

By this point, Tsali was healed enough to walk around, although with some difficulties; he often was stricken with bouts of dizziness and extreme fatigue. He technically wasn't supposed to be out of bed, but kids will be kids.

Suddenly, the young brown fox heard a bunch of male voices nearby. Detecting where it was coming from with his super-sensitive ears, the fox pressed up against the corner, listening in on the conversation inside.

"... What do you mean, you can't send anymore reinforcements?"

_"It means what it means, Luke. We do not have any military units close enough to help you now."_

"What do you expect us to do, then? Bend over and let the Demons rape us in the ass? We can't fight them, Jesus, and you know it! And yet, your forces fled the battle! You must be simply trying to abandon us so that we will stop asking for your support. "

_"Don't be silly now, my friend. I would not do any such thing. The fleet I sent was nearly annihilated by Demons; that is why they retreated,"_ Jesus truthfully assured.

"What were you planning on using us for, huh? A distraction so that you and your friends could take over more planets? A political tool to use against the Demons? Are you planning on using Thyferra's destruction like that too? Huh?"

"_Of course not. Luke, listen to me for a few moments_..."

"... The time for listening is over, you gutless coward! I should never had trusted you!" Luke yelled.

Jesus was not insulted or fazed in the slightest. _"Just hear me out..."_

It was too late; Luke turned off the screen in fury.

"Luke, are you fucking daft? We can't just push away the Angels now when we need them the most!" Jave lectured, not beliving that his own best friend would be so rash.

"You heard him yourself, Jave. He and his weak little Federation can't help us anymore." Luke irritably retorted, still furious.

"But we still cannot discount their political support." Dioxin sided with Jave.

"We don't need political support anymore, Dioxin. What we need now is something that will change everything around before we inevitably lose this war." The Seedrian Chief spoke.

Nick wondered aloud, "And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"... I don't know, but we have to do something... No matter the cost." Luke muttered with great determination. "We have to find out the reasons behind Maledict's actions, and what he is planning."

There was a pause.

"... Then what must we do to save our world?" Jave closed his eyes and pondered.

"I have an idea." Quinn suggested out of nowhere, "Let us offer the Demons a peace deal, and see their response."

Everyone stared at the blue Seedrian.

Realizing their reactions, Quinn continued. "... If the Demons refuse our peace offer, then there will be no doubt that Maledict is really attacking us for another reason other than just putting down an uprising, so we will have an official excuse for resisting him. It will prove once and for all whether he is simply pursuing an honest goal or has ulterior motives."

"Maledict obliterated Thyferra and exterminated its population. I think it's pretty obvious by now that he doesn't have an honest goal." Ceres retorted sarcastically. "I think it's also obvious that he has ulterior motives, too."

"We may as well try, Ceres." Dioxin supported his best friend, "Even if it is only a slim chance, it is worth the lives of every Seedrian in the galaxy."

"And what if Satan refuses to negotiate?" Jave questioned.

Nick shrugged, "... Then Altus help us."

"... No..." Luke muttered.

"Huh?"

"... NO! I will not back down in the face of failure. I will not stand by and watch my people become the victim of Satan's tyranny! I WILL find a way to win this war, no matter the cost. Now, are you all with me or not?" Luke demanded.

The others gave each other apprehensive glances. However, they all nodded in agreement.

"Good." Luke began, "Now, I need reports on the strategic situation in Procyon ASAP." The other Seedrians saluted, and left the room through a side entrance.

Tsali, listening in on everything, pondered all of their words in his heart, even thought he did not understand much about what they were talking about.

"Exterminated... its population?" He muttered quietly to himself, realizing what that could actually mean.

Tsali knew that he wasn't supposed to be around that area, so he decided to retrace his steps back towards his hospital room. He would ask about the fate of his family soon, he reckoned.

...

As Beelzebub approached the gigantic door leading to Maledict's throne room, he took a deep breath as he prepared for the probable rage reaction of the Devil towards Beelzebub's personal feelings. The door, which was inscribed with a pentagram around a goat skull opened like a hatch in six directions.

Maledict had his back facing Beelzebub, apparently playing a game on his computer.

"Umm... Maledict?"

The Devil paused his game, and turned. "Hey bro. What can I do for you?"

"... I wanted to talk to you about something very important."

"About what?"

"About the invasion. I wanted to explain to you..." He took a breath, "My... personal opposition towards your actions." The Lord of Flies waited for the inevitable lecture.

Maledict's expression did not change; he also did not reply, but simply nodded and let his friend elaborate.

When Beelzebub did not continue, the Devil decided to take over. "I'm actually not angry at you or Astorath. In fact, I doubted that either of you liked the idea from the start, and I guess I was right."

Beelzebub froze, not expecting this calm reaction at all. "Really? B-but..."

"I'm not that stupid, komrade." Satan shrugged, "I know both of you far too well to think otherwise. I know that you two prefer to focus on the Angels and not to get bogged down into interservice quarrels."

Beelzebub sweatdropped. "That's not entirely true, but okay."

"Like I stated during that briefing not to long ago, my plan will eventually ensure our victory against the Angels. Because once the Ultimate Weapon is in my control, there will be absolutely nothing in this Universe that will be able to stop me."

"Here you go again with your Ultimate Weapon pipe dreams. Can't you stop thinking about that for ten seconds?"

Maledict gave an offended expression. "I would expect you to be happier about this. This is what we have been waiting for. If my plan succeeds, we will win the Eternal War; three hundred trillion years of endless fighting shall finally end.

"I still fail to see how your delusions of claiming victory in the Eternal War have anything to do with your newest science project."

"They are not delusions, komrade."

"Whatever you say."

Maledict shook his head. "I'm telling you the truth. If this succeeds, our victory is assured."

"... That's exactly what you said when you made me build the Galaxy Crusher. And you never even used it! My IRD nearly went bankrupt trying to give you that thing, and you basically flushed all of our kredits down the shitter."

"For one thing, I did use your Galaxy Crusher, several times in fact. And plus, it's a fantastic thing to have in case of an emergency, so I certainly do appreciate your work on it. It's also a great diplomatic tool, to say the least."

"Then why did you shut it down?"

"I've told you a million times; if someone fighting against us managed to take control of the Crusher, it would mean the end of the Demon Empire - and possibly the Universe - as a whole. It would be far too big of a risk keep it activated when we are not using it." Satan explained his fears.

"You're still a paranoid schizophrenic, I can see that very well." Beelzebub insulted.

"... And you're still a total retard, I can see _that _very well." Maledict sharply replied.

There was a short pause, before both of them began laughing.


End file.
